i!i,;i:!!ii!i!i 



OUR LIVING 
LANGUAGE 

HOW TO TEACH IT AND HOW TO USE IT 




THE tfjsrrvERSITY PUBLISHING COMPANY 




Book Lil ^ 



CQPXRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 



How TO Teach It 

AND 

How TO Use It 



OUR 
LIVING LANGUAGE 

HOW TO TEACH IT 

AND 

HOW TO USE IT 

HOWARD R. DRIGGS 

Professor of Education in English, 
University of Utah, Salt Lake City. 
Author of Live Language Lessons 




2Ltncoln, Cbicago, Dallas 
THE UNIVERSITY PUBLISHING COMPANY 

1920 






OoPTaiQHT, 1920 

TM& UNIYBRSITY PUBLISHING COMPANY 



All Rights Reserved 



©GI.A559745 






PREFACE 

Our living language can best be learned and taught 
by truly democratic methods and in the truly American 
spirit. 

The methods advocated in this book are the result of 
a wealth of practical experience. They represent not 
only the best thoughts of the author, gained during more 
than a score of years as a student and as a teacher of 
the subject in grade schools, high schools, normal 
schools, and colleges, but also the invaluable contribu- 
tions that have come from hundreds of educational 
leaders and teachers in all parts of our land. 

The effort has been to present this message clearly 
and concretely. In a series of well-defined chapters, 
the vital phases of the subject are treated in a simple 
yet stimulating style. Following each of these practical 
discussions are an inviting program of round table 
studies and a series of exercises intended to enable 
the thoughtful reader to put the suggestions into 
practice. 

The book is especially designed for use in reading 
circles, in teacher-training courses i in high schools, 
normal schools, and colleges, and in literary organizations. 
It will be found helpful also for the home and for pro- 
fessional people. Its message is for all who would 
work for the betterment of our national speech. 

The author acknowledges his appreciation of the most 
generous help and inspiration received from the host of 



vi PREFACE 

pupils, teachers, superintendents, and others with whom 
he has worked in producing this book. 

The following educational leaders, who have made 
special contributions and suggestions, are remembered 
individually and with sincere gratitude: Dr. Richard 
Green Moulton, Professor of Literary Theory and 
Interpretation, of the University of Chicago; Dr. A. E. 
Winship, Editor of the Journal of Education, Boston; 
President John A. Widtsoe, Milton Bennion, Dean of 
the School of Education, and Leroy E. Cowles, Pro- 
fessor of Education, of the University of Utah; James 
W. Searson, Professor of English, State Agricultural 
College, Manhattan, Kansas; Herbert E. Fowler, Profes- 
sor of English, State Normal School, Lewis ton, Idaho; 
Walter Barnes, Professor of English, State Normal School, 
Fairmount, West Virginia; R. L. Lyman, Professor of 
English, University of Chicago School of Education; 
S. A. Leonard, Head of English Department, Lincoln 
School, Teachers College, Columbia University; E. E. 
Lewis, Principal Secondary School, University of Iowa; 
G. N. Child, State Superintendent of Utah; Mrs. Mary 
D. Bradford, Superintendent of Schools, Kenosha, Wis- 
consin; J. H. Beveridge, Superintendent of Schools, 
Omaha, Nebraska; W. R. Siders, Superintendent of 
Schools, Pocatello, Idaho; W. K. Dwyer, Superintend- 
ent of Schools, Anaconda, Montana; Ira L. Chapman, 
Superintendent of Schools, New Brunswick, New Jer- 
sey; Charles C. Couloumb, District Superintendent of 
Schools,' Philadelphia; C. R. Reed, Superintendent of 
Schools, Rockford, Illinois; Elga M. Shearer, Assistant 
Superintendent of Schools, Butte, Montana; Miss 



PREFACE vii 

Anthonette Durant, Head of English Department, 
State Normal School, Platteville, Wisconsin; Carrie 
Van Gilder, Supervisor of English, Indianola, Iowa; 
W. H. Carothers, Professor of Secondary Education, 
State Normal School, Emporia, Kansas; Fred M. 
Hunter, Superintendent of Schools, Oakland, CaKfomia. 

Howard R. Driggs. 



CONTENTS 

I 

THE HEART OF THE THEME page 

Our Living Language 3 

The Services of Speech 10 

Americanizing Our Methods 18 

The Democratic Recitation 24 

II 

THE COMMON CAUSE 

Team Work in Teaching Language 33 

School Standards in Speech 39 

The Living Example 43 

The Language Study Plan 51 

III 

GETTING RIGHT RESULTS IN COMPOSITION 

Connecting Composition with Life 65 

Life Lines in Language 72 

Leading the Learner to Express Himself . . 81 

Blending Oral and Written Work 89 

IV 

CORRECTIVE WORK IN LANGUAGE 

The Spirit and Aims of Constructive Criticism . loi 

Cultivating Skill in Speech 113 

Training the Tongue 121 

Correcting Written Work 129 

ix 



CONTENTS 



V 

MEASURING RESULTS IN COMPOSITION 

Facing the Issue 145 

Compositions Worth Measuring 155 

The Target Test 161 

A Practical Demonstration 167 

VI 

VITALIZING GRAMMAR 

Applying the Service Test . 187 

Cornerstones in Sentence Building . . . .195 

The Parts of Speech in Use 207 

Reducing Inflections to Their Lowest Terms . 219 

VII 

GAINING A COMMAND OF WORDS 

Building the Live Vocabulary . ... .231 

The Slang Problem 241 

Word Accuracy 251 

Word Appreciation . 259 

VIII 

CULTIVATING THE SPIRIT OF AUTHORSHIP 

Critics or Creators 269 

Creating Stories 277 

Creating Plays 283 

The Poet's Art . 289 



I 

THE HEART OF THE THEME 

Our language will be most effectively taught only as 
it is taught from the living viewpoint — taught, not for 
the sake of itself, but rather for the sake of service— 
and taught by truly democratic methods. 



OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

"What are you trying to do with English anyway?" 
the author was recently asked in a jocular vein, by a 
superintendent of one of our school systems. 

'* Just one thing," came the reply in like spirit, "simply 
trying to help raise the subject out of the ranks of the 
* dead languages/ " 

"You surely do not mean to imply that English is a 
*dead language?' " 

"Not at all. But it is commonly taught as if it were 
dead. Too many teachers, in dealing with this central 
subject of the curriculum, still persist in entering the 
future with their faces towards the past. They teach 
our language as something fixed, static. They spend 
practically all of their time in informing pupils about 
language, and in having them imitate classic models in 
composition, instead of in training them effectively to 
express themselves in the language of the living present." 

"You mean, then, that you would have them teach 
English as it is, and not as it was." 

"Certainly. Language is not something static; it is 
dynamic. It lives and grows. It is ever changing to 
reflect and shape the changing thoughts and feelings of 
the people that create and use it. It breathes their 
spirit; it is the chief medium through which their in- 
dividual and social action is directed. If our schools 
are to be of any force in guiding the speech habits of our 

3 



<OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 



people, they must deal directly with this living, growing 
speech. Our language must be taught not as something 
developed, but as something constantly in process of 
development." 

*' Speaking grammatically," suggested the superintend- 
ent, ''you believe in teaching the subject not from the 
past perfect, but from the present progressive viewpoint. " 

''That strikes the center of the thought exactly. If 
our language work is to bring not merely cultural, but 
serviceable results, teachers must cease spending so 
much time in rambling about literary curiosity shops 
and make their lessons keep step with the forward- 
moving present. " 

"But you surely would not cast aside the classics in 
promoting this work? " 

"Not those that are alive. We cannot do without 
the Bible, for example. It is always a living standard of 
Anglo-Saxon simplicity and strength. Neither can we 
dispense with Shakespeare's best plays, nor with other 
masterpieces that are still vibrant with life. To these 
we must continue to turn for help and inspiration in 
teaching our mother tongue. Our admiration for the 
excellent things of yesterday, however, should not blind 
us to the choice things of today. It is no discourtesy 
to Shakespeare to say that one hundred thousand or 
more words have been added to our tongue since he 
died, nor to call respectful attention to the literary 
gems that are constantly being produced out of this 
enriched and strengthened language. " 

"You seem to feel that there is no time limit to the 
production of masterpieces " 



OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 



"Indeed there is not. Masterpieces may spring from 
living literature any time. Surely you must agree with 
me that our language was never used with more strikingly 
splendid force than it is being used to-day. Do you not 
pause often in your newspaper reading to note the 
wonderful language skill of some of our keen-sighted 
correspondents who are interpreting for us in vivid, 
virile words the throbbing news of the world? Or have 
you not been struck with admiration at the language 
power of some of our leaders who are directing the 
destinies of the nations through these troublous times? '^ 

"Yes, I must admit that I have had my pride in our 
language renewed by their clear, ringing messages. " 

"It is some of that same pride that I would awaken, 
if I could, in the boys and girls, of this country. If they 
could be led to read appreciatively the best things in 
our living literature, and trained to use with proper 
pride the clean, strong forms in our Hving language, the 
battle for better speech would be won. '' 

"Can not this desired result be accomplished?'' 

"Not until the general attitude of teachers towards 
our language is changed. There is a notion among 
them that our everyday speech is coarse and common- 
place. It may be all that, at times, and more. But 
gold nuggets, we must remember, are found in common 
sand; and diamonds are discovered in the dirt." 

"You believe in letting children play in the sands 
of speech and dig in the language dirt, then, in the 
hope of finding golden thoughts and producing Hterary 
gems?" 

"Have it in your own joking way, " was the response. 



OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 



"I certainly think that if we are to help them to a 
healthy, natural growth we must not try always to keep 
them in language pinafores. 

*^We must remember, too, that out of such speech 
stuff as we sometimes pretend to despise, the finest 
literary gems have been made. It was the homely 
language of the common folk into which John Wychffe 
translated the Bible. Chaucer used the same common 
tongue in telling his Canterbury Tales. Shakespeare 
likewise created his wonderful plays in the living lan- 
guage of his time. Burns turned the dialect of the 
home folk of Scotland into charming lyrics. Every 
writer, indeed, who has reached and held the hearts of 
the people, has spoken in a tongue that the common folk 
could understand. 

*'Some of our false notions about culture need to be 
cleared away. To be really cultured is to have a culti- 
vated sense of selection. Applied to language, culture 
is ability to separate the gold from the dross, to find the 
choice, the fitting word, and to use it with skill. 

"To teach language successfully means far more than 
to drill pupils on symbols and facts of speech. It means 
rather to train them in a discriminating use of their 
common tongue, to help them find therein the clean, 
five, usable words, and to shape out of these words 
clear, convincing sentences to convey to others their 
own thoughts and feelings. 

''More than this, the proper teaching of any language 
puts the learner into a sympathetic relationship with the 
inner life of the people whose feeling that speech em- 
bodies. If we would Americanize the people of this 



OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 



land, we must teach them to think and to speak through 
our American language. " 

"What do you mean by 'our American language?' " 
''The common, living language used in America 
to-day." 

"What?— the talk of the shop and street?" 
"That constitutes part of it. But here I warn you 
to leap to no false conclusions. I am not advocating 
that our standards be lowered and that people be allowed 
to talk as they please. Quite the contrary, I hold that 
they should be trained away from lawless habits of 
speech. The best way to get this result is to school 
them in the use of choice, Hving language. 

"There is a common notion that our American speech 
is lacking in culture. Certain types of common talk 
may be open to such criticism; at the same time, no 
finer examples of a virile and eloquent use of our mother 
tongue can be found than are found among those that 
have come and are coming from the pens and tongues 
of Americans. 

"The American language is the language of Lincoln, 
of Emerson, of Irving, of Hawthorne, of Poe, of Mark 
Twain, of Roosevelt, of Wilson, and of a host of other 
writers and speakers who have interpreted and are inter- 
preting in burning, vivid words American life and 
American ideals. " 

"But these men use the English tongue." 

"Certainly, English as it has been developed and 

enriched through contact with American thought and 

feeling. There is no disrespect here for our parent 

speech; far from it. Every right thinking American 



8 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

admires our splendid English mother tongue. It is our 
richest inheritance. 

''Fundamentally, the English and the American lan- 
guages are one. There are, however, distinguishing 
differences between our speech and that of our cousins 
across the sea, or that of other EngUsh speaking peoples. 
Our language is marked by pecuKar idiomatic expres- 
sions, and by a certain spontaneity of construction 
characteristic of the spirit of this country. It reflects aU 
the dash and vigor and freedom of our daring and mas- 
terful America. It is, in a word, typically American. 

"This language, organic with our life, vibrant with 
our thought and feeling, thrilled with our history, is the 
language that must be taught in the schools. It is the 
right of the American child to learn how to express 
himself effectively in his own American tongue. " 

"That sentiment rings true," said the superintendent; 
"I agree with it heartily; but I am still looking for light 
on how this living American speech may best be taught. 
What practical plan have you to offer for putting life 
and present-day purpose into the teaching of our 
language?" 

"The gist of my answer has already been suggested in 
our discussion. To teach our American language suc- 
cessfully, we must deal with it as something alive; we 
must teach it from the American viewpoint and by truly 
democratic methods. 

"Language teaching means much more than drilling 
pupils on the formulas of speech. It means to give 
them command of the common means of communica- 
tion. It means to train them to use speech, not for the 



OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 



sake of speech, but for the sake of service. It means 
to school them in a true appreciation of their American 
birthright, — freedom of speech." 

QUESTIONS 

1. Explain and illustrate the essential difference between a 
dead language and a live one. 

2. Show in a concrete way that our language is alive and 
growing. 

3. What is the vital connection between literature that lives 
and living language? 

4. What main thing must be done to teach language from the 
living viewpoint? 

5. What general training is most needed to help American 
pupils to use our living language with appreciation and skill? 

EXERCISES 

1 . Add to the following expressions five others that have recently 
come into our language. Take a newspaper and copy from any 
one page of it all the words you can find which you know have 
been added to our language since 1900. 

Tell which of these, and the ones you choose, seem most likely 
to be received and to remain in good use. Give reasons for your 
opinion. 



overseas 


backer 


over the top 


carry on 


camouflage 


barrage 


periscope 


bKghty 


chauffeur 


garage 


doughboy 


aeronautics 


pep 


movie 


Bolsheviki 


tractor 



2. Find in some newspaper, magazine, or book of recent publi- 
cation a brief, choice selection in prose or verse illustrative of the 
best type of our living literature. Be ready to point out the 
specific literary quahties that make it worthy literature, and join 
with others in a discussion of similar selections they have made. 



THE SERVICES OF SPEECH 

Ability to use free speech wisely and well is a pa- 
triotic art. On the development of this art depends 
not pnly the preservation, but the progress of the liber- 
ties of our nation and of the world. There is constant 
need for school people to appreciate the privileges 
and the responsibiUties that come with freedom of 
speech. Especially in these dangerous days is there 
pressing need to train them not to abuse their liber- 
ties, but to use them as befits citizens of a true de- 
mocracy. 

Freedom of speech is justified when one speaks for 
the sake of service. Man is entitled to express himself 
freely when what he says is said in the right spirit, and 
is said with the unselfish purpose of benefiting others. 
His thought contribution may be large or small; his 
words mav be used merely to pass the pleasantries of 
the day, to give a bit of information, or they may be 
employed in making a literary masterpiece or in voicing 
inspirational truths. As long as his words carry the 
right spirit and aim at helpfulness they are to be wel- 
comed. The essential thing is this: Freedom of speech 
should signify serviceable self-expression. 

The prime purpose of speech is service. Language 
is a social instrument. It was created as a medium 
through which man could communicate his thoughts, his 
feelings, and his experiences with his fellows. For what 

lo 



THE SERVICES OF SPEECH ii 

reason? Simply that he might stir them to think, to 
feel, to act with him. 

In the throbbing work of the world, men use language 
mainly to inform, to convince, to stimulate in others re- 
sponsive feeling and action. Literature that lives is 
produced under the stimulus of a like motive. The 
stories that grip and hold the human heart, the speech 
or song that rouses us, spring from no listless brain. 
They leap alive out of the soul that has a real message. 
And the world listens. 

There is no time for empty language lessons in our 
crowded curriculum. But time must be taken to train 
pupils to speak and to write their common language with 
skill, and to teach them to value the blessing of the 
right of voicing their thoughts freely. Such training 
is absolutely necessary if our pupils are to take their 
part efficiently in this land of free speech. 

Speech may best be taught not for its own sake, but 
for the sake of service. The language lesson, to give a 
real-life training, must be actuated by a real-life purpose. 
It must offer to the pupil well-directed practice in the 
use of speech for the good of some common cause. Thus 
taught, language becomes a vitalized study. 

In the past, language work has been formalized, not 
vitalized. The time given to the subject has been spent 
almost entirely in drilling pupils on facts and formulas. 
Too many teachers, schooled in these old-time methods, 
still persist in teaching language for the sake of infor- 
mation, devoting most, if not all, of the time to drilling 
pupils on the mechanical side of the work — learning the 
names of the bones, if you please, of the skeleton of 



12 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

speech. Whatever expression work is offered is mostly 
of the reproductive sort — limitative, not creative in 
spirit; and very little of it is aimed at real service. 

Teachers of another type, in protest against this 
lifeless sort of work, have gone to another extreme. 
Language with them is made merely an expressional 
study. Let the child talk as he feels, their argument 
runs; give him ample opportunity to speak and write 
freely in all of his classes, and he will soon learn to use 
language fluently — yes, indeed, but not accurately, nor 
serviceably. 

Neither of these plans is well balanced. Language 
work must deal with much more than the skeleton of 
speech; yet without a framework to give it form and 
strength, it cannot be other than a spineless study. 
Learning the mechanics of speech is not enough; neither 
is expression for expression's sake sufficient. To be 
really effective, language training must combine the 
best in these two methods and at the same time take 
a forward step. 

The language skeleton should be given organs and 
muscles and skin and nerves to make it a living body; 
but, to be a useful being, its energies must be turned 
toward real service. Not only must our language work 
have form and hfe, but it must be set at worth-while 
work. 

Formal work in this plan is not ehminated; it is 
simply subordinated. The emphasis is placed where it 
belongs, on the expression side of the subject; but not 
to the neglect of necessary teaching of fundamental prin- 
ciples and the giving of essential drills to fix right 



THE SERVICES OF SPEECH 13 

language habits in tongue and fingers. More important 
still: all of this work is aimed at training the pupil to 
use speech as a means of service. 

The services of speech in our democratic country 
are vital and varied. Life is interlinked in every way 
with language. Language is the chief means of com- 
munication. It connects with every activity. It is the 
main channel through which thought and feehng flow. 

Among the various general services it is constantly 
performing are these: 

1. Social service, reflected in daily conversation, 
social letter writing, the interchange of the courtesies of 
daily life, and the use of language in more formal social 
functions. 

2. Business service, shown in the language used in 
various transactions, in correspondence, and in adver- 
tising and promotive work. 

3. Professional service, that connected with the 
work of teaching, of the ministry, of legal practice, of 
medicine, and of other professions. 

4. Journalistic service, concerned with the gathering 
and publishing of news, the writing of magazine articles, 
and with other means of dispensing information. 

5. Political service, dealing with civic and govern- 
mental affairs, with directing the affairs and shaping the 
work and ideals of a democracy. 

6. Literary service, reflected at its best through the 
masterpieces of Hterature, in the form of poems, stories, 
orations, essays, the drama, and other productions. 

7. Scientific service. 

8. Historical service. 



14 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

9. Educational service, where language is the main 
means of learning. The pupil's progress is dependent 
largely on his ability to read and to speak his mother 
tongue. Reading is the ''open sesame" to the treasure- 
house of knowledge. Language is the magic password 
that sets the thoughts and feelings free. 

A striking illustration of this last thought is found in 
the story of Helen Keller. Speaking of her own Hfe, 
this gifted girl tells how she was led out of the prison 
house of deafness and blindness into which she had been 
plunged by a tragic illness. She says: 

''One brief spring musical with the song of robin and 
mockingbird, one summer rich in fruit and roses, one 
autumn of gold and crimson, sped by and left their gifts 
at the feet of an eager, delighted child. Then in the 
dreary month of February came the Ulness which closed 
my eyes and ears. Gradually I got used to the silence 
and darkness that surrounded me and forgot that it 
had ever been different, until she came — my teacher 
who was to set my spirit free. " 

What did Anna SulHvan do for Helen Keller? Liter- 
ally she put into her hand the key of language, with 
which her pupil might unlock the treasure-house of 
knowledge and by which she might express her own 
thoughts and feelings. 

Here is the story as Helen Keller tells it : 

"The morning after my teacher came she led me into 
her room and gave me a doll. When I had played with 
it a little while, Miss Sullivan slowly spelled into my 
hand *d-o-l-l.* I was at once interested in this finger 
play and tried to imitate it. When I finally succeeded 



THE SERVICES OF SPEECH 15 

in making the letters correctly, I was flushed with 
childish pleasure and pride. 

"Running down stairs to my mother I held up my 
hand and made the letters for doll. I did not know that 
I was spelling a word or even that words existed. I was 
simply making my fingers go in monkey-like imitation. 
In the days that followed I learned to spell in this un- 
comprehending way a great many words, among them, 
pin, hat, cup, and a few verbs like sit, stand, and walk. 
But my teacher had been with me several weeks before 
I understood that everything has a name. 

"One day, while I was playing with my new doll, 
Miss Sullivan put my big rag doU into my lap also, 
spelled * d-o-1-1, ' and tried to make me understand that 
*d-o-l-r appHed to both. Earlier in the day we had 
had a tussle over the words ^m-u-g* and *w-a-t-e-r.' 
Miss Sullivan had tried to impress it upon me that 
'm-u-g' is mug and that 'w-a-t-e-r' is water, but I 
persisted in confounding the two. 

"We walked down the path to the well-house, at- 
tracted by the fragrance of the honeysuckle with which 
it was covered. Some one was drawing water and my 
teacher placed my hand under the spout. As the cool 
stream gushed over one hand she spelled into the other 
the word *w-a-t-e-r,' first slowly, then rapidly. I stood 
still, my whole attention fixed upon the motion of her 
fingers. Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as of 
something forgotten — a thrill of returning thought; and 
somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me. 
I knew that ^w-a-t-e-r' meant the wonderful cool some- 
thing that was flowing over my hand. 



i6 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

"That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, 
hope, joy, set it free!'' 

Language teaching is fundamental in the teaching 
process. It is the gateway to learning. Every pupil, 
like Helen Keller, must be trained to read and to use it 
before he can make progress in his school work. 

This also is true: The more effective a person is in 
the use of language, other things being equal, the more 
efficiently he can take his part in life. The teacher, for 
illustration, who uses language with finish and force, 
who can shape the skillful question, who can explain 
interestingly, who can tell a story well, has a great 
advantage over the one whose speech is halting and crude. 

The lawyer who speaks with clear and convincing 
style has added power. Think of Abraham Lincoln. 
Was not much of his power due to his mastery of our 
language? "When Lincoln speaks," said Lowell, "it 
seems as if the people are thinking out loud. " 

The business man also finds clear, concise, and cour- 
teous speech an asset of great value. It would be 
impossible to compute the daily loss in time and money 
caused by blunders in business correspondence and 
business speech; language can hardly be measured on 
the dollar basis; but faulty speech is certainly a great 
overhead expense. 

Choice language gives culture to the home; it adds 
grace to society; and in this democratic life of ours, 
effective speech is an essential. The power to speak 
well has always been closely coupled with leadership in 
the affairs of government. 

All of this being undeniably true, what greater work 



THE SERVICES OF SPEECH 17 

Ues before the teachers in our schools than to give pupils 
the right feeling toward language and to cultivate in 
them the power to use it with purpose? If that work is 
to be effectively done, the language lesson must be made 
a vital exercise in serviceable self-expression. It can be 
done, indeed, only by the application of democratic 
methods, based on the central principle of true education. 
In this thought of using speech for real service we 
find our guiding principle — our central aim and the main 
problems connected with teaching the subject. 

QUESTIONS 

1 . What responsibility goes with the privilege of free speech? 

2. What central aim should characterize the language training 
in our schools? 

3. Show how the truly serviceable language lesson includes 
the necessary formal work and at the same time gives training in 
self-expression. 

4. What are the main services performed through the use of 
speech? 

5. Show just how efficiency in speech makes for more success- 
ful service in every phase of life. 

EXERCISES 

1. Prepare to report briefly some language lesson you have 
observed which resulted merely in giving information about 
language; another wherein the returns were chiefly expression for 
expression's sake; another that gave real training in serviceable 
self-expression. 

Join with your associates in a discussion of how the live, service- 
able type of language lesson might be brought into common 
practice in the schoolroom. 

2. Write a paragraph showing clearly the relation of language 
efficiency to success in any of the vocations. Share your thoughts 
with others who will write similar paragraphs on this topic. 



AMERICANIZING OUR METHODS 

The schools of a democracy should be miniature 
democracies. This means that, not only in their 
outward expressions of loyalty, but in their inner 
workings, they should reflect the spirit and the meth- 
ods of a self-governing country. How else can they 
effectively train the youth for free and serviceable 
citizenship? 

Two main lines must naturally be followed in bringing 
and in keeping our American schools up to this con- 
sistent standard: 1. The principles and practices of 
sane self-government must be introduced into sys- 
tems of school control; 2. The daily class work must 
be based on democratic methods. 

It is aside from the central purpose of this dis- 
cussion to give other than passing attention to the 
first of these essentials. We must look to superintend- 
ents, principals, teachers, and other directors to develop 
workable plans for making our schools sensibly self- 
governing. 

The bringing of democratic methods into class work, 
however, is a problem that belongs primarily to the 
teacher. As such it connects closely with the main 
theme of this book. Our living language, indeed, can 
be taught most successfully only as the work is democ- 
ratized. To gain skill in speech, the pupil must be 
given well-directed practice in serviceable self-expression. 

i8 



AMERICANIZING OUR METHODS 19 



To make opportunity for such practice means to develop 
the democratic recitation. 

Teachers generally need help in democratizing their 
class work. Our schools ordinarily are more or less 
autocratic in their spirit and practices. Pupils are given 
Httle choice as to their lessons; they are commonly 
driven, rather than led, to learn; the teacher more 
frequently dominates than directs the minds of the 
learners. All of this is frankly admitted by some 
teachers; but they ask defensively, ^'How can we make 
the work more democratic without losing control of 
the class?" 

A little clearer understanding of the real meaning of 
democracy seems to be needed. Democracy means not 
lack of control but self-control. The cure for autocracy 
is not anarchy; it is democracy. 

Individual freedom is justified only in so far as it 
promotes the general good. In a school, as in a democ- 
racy, self-expression must be held within the boundaries 
of common sense. The best class work is not done 
when ten, twenty, or more pupils work in "lock step" 
fashion under the dictatorial will of the teacher; nor is 
that a model school where every pupil is allowed to 
follow his own whims regardless of the rights of others. 
The most desirable results come when the pupils, under 
the tactful leadership of the teacher, work individually, 
yet cooperatively, in the interests of the whole class. 
Such a school reflects truly the inner spirit of true 
Americanism. 

A democracy is a nation where every citizen is given 
opportunity to serve himself through service for others. 



20 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

The democratic recitation is one which affords inviting 
opportunities for each pupil to perfect himself by par- 
ticipating freely in real-life exercises for the good of all. 
It is a give-and-take process in education. 

The spirit of our free American life training is sug- 
gested by the action of the mountain stream. The rock 
fragments there are rounded and pohshed by free 
contact with other stones. In our democracy, likewise, 
the individual must leap into the various currents of 
our national Hfe and take his chances with his fellows. 
To receive the benefits offered freely to all, he must 
contribute his energies to the common cause. Call it a 
schooling in " the university of hard knocks'' if you will. 
It is after all the only schooling that actually counts and 
lasts. Our schools must give some such real-life training 
if their work is to be vital and lasting. 

The democratic method of teaching is not only nation- 
ally right, but educationally sound. It is based on this 
first principle of progressive pedagogy: Without serv- 
iceable self-expression there can be no real education. 

Education implies expression. It means not "to 
crush out" but "to lead out" the learner. Only as the 
pupil is given a chance to express himself can he grow at 
all; but to grow rightly, his expression must be guided 
towards the ends of real-life service. 

The school too often is made an institution of repres- 
sion and suppression rather than of expression. The 
school master, with the best of intentions, tries to "train 
up the child in the way he should go" by the use of 
autocratic methods. The result is that spontaneity, 
initiative, and originality, the most desirable of qualities 



AMERICANIZING OUR METHODS 21 

to be cultivated in the human being, are choked and 
thwarted. The pupil's natural growth is prevented 
rather than promoted. 

A striking incident will serve to illuminate this point. 
Some years ago a little tree was broken down by a 
furniture van that was being driven into a certain back 
yard. The next spring, in working his garden, the 
owner of the house noticed a stick lying on the ground 
and threw it aside. Afterwards he found a "weed'* 
growing where the tree had stood, and cut it down with 
his hoe. A week or so later the same weed appeared 
again and a second time it was cut down. Then the 
gardener left for his vacation. When he returned, he 
again discovered the persistent weed. On examining it 
more closely, he discovered it to be no weed at all, but 
a sprout from a quick growing tree which is sometimes 
called the tree of paradise. He wanted the tree, so he 
began to encourage the young shoot to express itself. 
To-day the tree, developed from this beginning, stands 
fully thirty feet in height, spreading its branches to 
make an inviting place of coolness and rest. 

There is no suggestion here that the teacher shotdd 
take a vacation occasionally to give the child a chance 
to grow. It is certain, however, that better results 
would come generally from our school work if pupils 
were given an encouraging opportunity to express them- 
selves, instead of being restrained and over-helped by 
well-intentioned teachers. There has certainly been too 
much pruning of a kind disastrous to child growth. 

In another part of this same garden is another tree of 
paradise, which was given a chance from the first to 



22 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

express itself freely. It is taller and more shapely, and 
it bears no scars from the hacking of the hoe, but 
through careful cultivating and trimming it has devel- 
oped to its finest form. 

Education involves a double process — cultivating and 
guiding. To promote the growth of the learner the 
school must first of all surround him with conditions 
most encouraging to his natural growth, and second, by 
tactful guidance, train his growth rightly. "The 
teacher, '^ says Dr. John M. Tyler, "should enter into a 
kind of partnership with nature" for the good of the 
child. 

Growth, we must remember, does not come from 
without, but from within. The pupil's healthy develop- 
ment is a direct result of activity, stimulated by the 
true social motive. The most effective help the teacher 
can give the pupil is not to preach facts, nor to dictate 
directions, but to create right conditions for growth, 
and in the spirit of true Americanism, lead the learner 
to develop himself by participation in the opportunities 
afforded for the good of all. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Explain briefly the true meaning of Americaniffln. 

2. What is the first step necessary to make our schools 
thoroughly American in spirit and in practice? 

3. Describe some school or class you know well which is 
characterized by truly American methods. 

4. What pedagogical truth is illuminated by the story told 
of the tree of paradise? Show the application of that truth in the 
process of Americanizing our schools. 



AMERICANIZING OUR METHODS 23 

EXERCISES 

1. Write a paragraph stating clearly and concisely what you 
think the World War has demonstrated as to the relative value of 
autocratic and democratic systems of education. Share your 
thoughts on this question with others who will write similar para- 
graphs. 

2. What autocratic tendency have you observed most among 
teachers in conducting recitations, in assigning work, or in other 
phases of teaching? Be ready to make your criticism construc- 
tive by giving some practical suggestion to show how this tendency 
may best be overcome. Have a democratic discussion of this 
problem. 



THE DEMOCRATIC RECITATION 

The class may be its own best teacher. Pupils, tact- 
fully guided and stimulated, can help one another 
greatly in solving their own problems. To give them 
unnecessary help is to hinder their progress and to rob 
them of their birthright to develop themselves by 
working with their equals in the spirit of true democracy. 

Individual perfection is made possible only through 
social contact. Each one needs the stimulating and 
guiding influence of the group to bring him up to his 
best. This thought will be made clear by the following 
little tale of a traveler: 

''I was going through the Blue Mountains of Oregon," 
said he, "when an old lumberman came into the car and 
sat down beside me. 

"As the train sped along, I noticed a splendid pine 
tree growing by itself on the hillside. Pointing to it 
I remarked, * That tree would make fine lumber. ' 

" The old lumberman shook his head. 

" Why not?' I asked. 

" 'Well, boy, you see it grows out there by itself. It 
has all the chance it wants to put on big limbs. ' 

" 'Yes.' 

" 'Every limb means a knot. That would be a 
knotty old stick to cut up, and the lumber would not be 
worth much when the job was done. It is the tree that 
grows in the grove that makes the best timber; provi- 

24 



THE DEMOCRATIC RECITATION 25 

din', of course, it has room enough to grow. Such a 
tree puts on branches only towards the top. But when 
it is sawed it makes straight-grained lumber.' " 

What the grove is to the individual tree the school 
should be to the pupil — an opportunity to develop to 
his best through group-guided self-expression. This 
type of school is possible only as democratic methods are 
put into practice in our school work. 

The democratic recitation, briefly described, is an 
exercise in useful self-expression. Each pupil therein 
is given encouraging opportunity to gain the benefits 
to come from the class, by giving of himself to the 
common cause. 

The best lesson is one in which every pupil takes part. 
The recitation can scarcely be effective imless character- 
ized by mental activity and free expression. This 
activity and expression, however, should be controlled — 
self-controlled, and guided towards the accomplishment 
of a common purpose. Activity is necessary to ac- 
complish any kind of work. Disorder, however, is 
disastrous. 

In the truly democratic recitation the pupils work 
freely, happily. The teacher works with them, not for 
them. Expression that helps to forward the work is 
welcomed; that which is not pertinent is discouraged. 
Thus the pupils are given opportunity to develop them- 
selves through the proper exercise of their minds in 
working out problems of mutual interest and benefit. 
In the democratic recitation the teacher discovers the 
pupil's Hfe interests and guides them towards educa- 
tional achievement. 



26 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

It requires more tact perhaps to conduct such a reci- 
tation than it would to dole out facts, or to entertain 
pupils by performing for them. From outward appear- 
ance, too, the democratic recitation may seem less 
successful than the one wherein the children are working 
in so-called perfect order under the dictation of the 
teacher, or wherein they are being entertained by her. 
But what of the growth of the child if the teacher 
does all the work? Does not such a recitation defeat 
the central purpose of education? 

In various forms the democratic recitation is already 
a reality in our best schools. Leading teachers in 
different parts of the land, and certain whole school 
systems are now following most successfully these 
methods of teaching. They are demonstrating daily 
the fact that pupils can be given a rightful share in 
directing their own class work, without turning Hberty 
into lawlessness, and with richer returns than have ever 
come from any autocratic system of teaching. 

Why, then, have these methods not been more gener- 
ally put into practice? 

Three main reasons account for our slowness in 
adopting them: 1. Teachers naturally tend to follow 
the autocratic methods by which they themselves have 
been taught; 2. The courses of study and the textbooks 
usually given them to follow are undemocratic in spirit 
and method; 3. Overburdened by the demands of a 
crowded curriculum, teachers too often take the auto- 
cratic road because they think it offers an easier way to 
teach. In this, however, they are seriously mistaken. 
Not the autocratic but the democratic path is the line 



THE DEMOCRATIC RECITATION 27 

of least resistance. The way to remove these obstacles 
from the path of true teaching is plain. 

The first duty in this matter rests upon aU teachers. 
Teachers should teach as they have been taught; but 
they must be taught by right methods from the very 
beginning. This means that college professors, high 
school instructors, and elementary school teachers all 
have a responsibility in training teachers in the way 
they should go. The democratizing of our methods 
must extend throughout our whole school system. This 
consistent demand is made primarily not for the better 
training of teachers, but for the good of the children. 

A brief course in pedagogy is not enough. Better 
this than nothing, of course; but the training must go 
deeper. Right teaching methods should be taught 
indirectly in every class. The work of the school of 
education would then be, not to cover up false training, 
but rather to add a finishing touch to bring out the 
native grain of the truly trained teacher. 

The second duty in clearing the way for democratic 
class work rests upon the leaders in education. It is 
their business, with the help of teachers, to provide 
courses of study and textbooks that are truly democratic. 
Teachers and pupils alike must have proper plans and 
the right tools if their work is to be done effectively. 
Courses of study must give teachers well-guided oppor- 
tunity to work freely; and texts must not drive but 
lead and direct pupils along life lines of learning, if the 
best results are to be achieved. 

The third difficulty is mainly a mental one. It will 
be quickly cleared away when teachers come to feel 



28 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

keenly the truth that the democratic recitation offers 
not only the best, but the easiest way to teach. Lessons 
based on this method follow the currents of natural 
interest; the teacher is not forever pulling up-stream. 
The pupils work not against but with the teacher for 
their own good. 

Democratic methods may be applied in every line of 
work. Geography, history, science, mathematics, art, 
music, literature, language, and all other subjects may 
be readily and most successfully taught in this way. 
The essential thing is for each teacher to take the point 
of view already plainly indicated in this discussion, and 
in the second place to give the method an impartial 
proving out in practice. The results wiU amply justify 
these assertions. 

QUESTIONS 

1. From the viewpoint of the learner, what is the main pur- 
pose of a class recitation? From the viewpoint of the teacher? 

2. Why must the recitation be essentially democratic in 
order to bring the richest returns to both teacher and pupil? 

3. Why is the democratic method of teaching not only edu- 
cationally right but easiest to follow? 

4. Accoimt for the slowness of teachers to tak». up this method. 

5. What practical suggestion would you offer for stimulating 
them to adopt this progressive plan? 

EXERCISES 
1. Using one of the following as a topic sentence, write a 
paragraph making a clear explanation of the point: 

a. The class itself may be its own best teacher. 

b. The pupil's progress is to be measured by what he 
gives to the class. 

c. Without proper expression there can be no real edu- 

cation. 



THE DEMOCRATIC RECITATION 29 

Be ready to give experience from your own school life in proof 
of what you say on the topics you develop. 

2. Plan and teach a democratic lesson in language. Correlate 
the work with local history, local geography, community civics, 
home industries, or with some other subject close to the lives of 
the pupils. Have a round table report and discussion of the 
results of your recitation and others given by your associates. 

3. Make a list of the strongest points you have noticed in any 
truly democratic recitation. How does it differ from any other 
recitation? 



II 

THE COMMON CAUSE 

No subject can be most successfully taught unless 
some good language training comes as a valuable by- 
product from the work. 



31 



TEAM WORK IN TEACHING LANGUAGE 

Language is at once a means of learning and a 
medium of art. As a means of learning it belongs to 
every other study in the curriculimi. As a means of 
literary expression it is of special concern mainly to 
teachers of language. To recognize clearly this two- 
fold aspect of the subject, is to see more plainly the 
boundary lines of our general and specific duties in 
teaching it. 

Every lesson in one sense is a language lesson. Every 
teacher is directly or indirectly a teacher of the mother 
tongue. No subject can be most successfully taught 
unless some good language training comes as a valuable 
by-product from the work. 

The following instance will make the point clear: 

A certain lad came home from high school recently 
with a load of books under his arm. 

"Daddy," he said, '*I have to take an examination 
to-morrow. Won't you help me?" 

''Certainly," responded the father, "What are you 
worrying most about? " 

"This general science. I know the teacher will give 
us some stiff questions on these old siphons and pumps 
and other things, and I don't think I can tell much 
about them. " 

"What is a siphon?" he was asked. 

"Oh, it's a kind of a thing—" 

33 



34 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

"Just a moment, laddie," interrupted the father; 
**now, make a clear sentence telling what a siphon is." 

" I can't explain it. " 

"Oh, spell your can't without the H*. " 

"Well, a siphon is a kind of tube, or something — " 

*' 'A tube or something.' Is that very scientific 
language?" 

"Would you call it an instrument?" he asked. 

"Perhaps, but ^instrument ' has a variety of meanings. ' * 

"Is it a mechanical device?" 

"That is more accurate; go ahead." 

"Well, a siphon is a mechanical device used to raise 
water — " 

"Only water?" 

" — To raise liquids from a lower over a higher level. — 
Will that do?" 

"Isn't it a more satisfactory explanation to you," 
asked the father, " than to say, * A siphon is a kind of 
thing'?" 

The boy's attention was then turned to the making of 
sentences to explain accurately the principle of the 
pump. He was held further to the answering in clear 
language of other anticipated questions. 

''Oh, I see what you're driving at, daddy," the lad 
finally commented, "a fellow may know a thing pretty 
well but he always knows it better when he can tell it 
well." 

"You have discovered a great truth," was the reply; 
''just put it into practice hereafter and your examination 
troubles will largely disappear. " 

Impression and expression are very closely inter- 



TEAM WORK IN TEACHING LANGUAGE 35 

twined in the educational process. If teachers in all 
subjects could be made to appreciate this thought, a 
good many of the ordinary language difficulties that now 
vex us could be quickly cleared away. 

Teachers generally do not seem to feel keenly this 
truth. They try to impress facts upon the child's mind 
instead of giving him a chance to impress the facts upon 
himself by expressing them in plain language. This is 
true not only in science, but also in arithmetic, in 
geography, in history, and in all of the other subjects of 
the curriculum. By their actions, if not by their words, 
many teachers are constantly saying, **The pupil's 
language is no concern of mine. That work belongs to 
the teacher of language. " The idea is a fatally false one. 

Language is the common currency of thought. With- 
out its help the mental business of the recitation could 
not be transacted. That teacher is poor, indeed, who 
does not possess enough of this common medium of 
exchange between mind and mind to conduct the affairs 
of the class with facility. The pupil, too, is robbed of 
the richest the recitation can bring unless he is given 
opportunity to clarify his thoughts by expressing them 
clearly. 

Failure to apply this truth in all classes accounts 
largely for both the careless speech and the careless 
thought habits too prevalent in our schools. Permitting 
pupils to use lax language in any recitation tends to 
develop lazy thinkers. 

President Charles W. Eliot of Harvard University, in 
a recent statement on education, reinforces this thought 
when he says, '*No systematic, everyday practice in 



36 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

accurate statement has been insisted on." ''It is a 
matter of everyday experience," he continues, "that 
most Americans cannot repeat correctly a conversation, 
describe accurately what they have seen or heard, or^ 
write on the spot a correct account of a transaction they 
have witnessed. " 

The remedy for this common defect, President Eliot 
urges, is not book work, but persistent practice in obser- 
vation and expression. 

Here he strikes the core of the whole matter. Pupils 
in all classes must be trained in the use of clear language 
if right habits of speech are to be finally formed, and 
clear and accurate thought work promoted. 

This is no plea from the English department. It is 
simply a reminder of the self-evident fact that language 
is the chief instrument in every other branch of study. 
The teacher of any subject who fails to give due atten- 
tion to the language side of the subject simply fails to 
promote the best interests of his own special work. 

A certain complement of language training naturally 
goes with every subject. The history lesson calls for an 
explanation of the facts in historical language. Geog- 
raphy also must be clearly presented. Science is not 
well taught unless the pupil can tell with scientific 
accuracy what he learns. Mathematics, likewise, offers 
an excellent opportunity to train the student to express 
himself in a straight line, a rare accomplishment in 
speech. 

An instance to reinforce this point comes from the 
life of Lincoln. Speaking of his self -education, he once 
said that among his early school books he found an old 



TEAM WORK IN TEACHING LANGUAGE 37 

geometry. In it he discovered the word demonstrate, 
and irmnediately he began to demonstrate in logical 
language the various problems it contained. This 
training, he felt certain, helped him greatly throughout 
his life to follow the natural sequences of a thought to 
its logical conclusion. 

Rightly taught every subject makes its distinctive 
contribution indirectly to language training. The part 
of every teacher is to make sure that the speech side of 
the subject is not forgotten. On the English department 
rests the responsibility for teaching the essential prin- 
ciples of language and giving the necessary practice and 
drills to make these principles sure; but on all teachers 
rests the general responsibiUty for holding pupils to 
clear and correct speech. 

Such team work will bring the results we seek. 
When a hunter goes after rabbits or ducks, he takes a 
shot gun; if he hunts big game he carries a rifle. There 
is just as much lead used in a shot gim as in a rifle, but 
the lead in the rifle works as a unit. Language training 
in our schools has been too much of the shot gun type. 
The school has not been united in the achievement of 
this common purpose. As a consequence much of the 
excellent work of individual teachers has been wasted. 
The call of the hour is for cooperation, for unity of 
effort in promoting this cormnon cause. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Express in a sentence of your own the central thought of 
the chapter. 

2. Why is due attention to the language side of any subject 
essential to the successful teaching of that subject? 



38 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

3. How can every teacher give daily help in overcoming the 
defect pointed out by President Eliot? 

4. What language lesson for all is suggested in the instance 
told of Lincoln's study of geometry? 

5. Suggest two or more ways by which better team work in 
teaching language may be brought about. 

EXERCISES 

1. Plan to take active part in a round table discussion of the 
following topics: 

a. Good language training comes as one of the most 

valuable by-products from every successfully taught 
lesson. 

b. No thought is really impressed until it has been 

properly expressed. 

c. Clear expression is the best means of clarifying thought. 

2. Write a paragraph pointing out how a clear use of language 
helps the pupil in history, mathematics, geography, science, or 
any other subject. 



SCHOOL STANDARDS IN SPEECH 

There are two kinds of language teaching — direct and 
indirect. Direct language teaching rightly belongs to 
the language class proper. Indirect teaching is given in 
connection with every class irrespective of the subject 
taught. If our speech training is to bring right results, 
these two kinds of language work must be made to 
move in the same direction. 

Language practice in the schoolroom should certainly 
parallel language precepts. Unfortunately for the com- 
mon cause, however, they too frequently fail to do so. 
Slovenly speech and careless written work too often 
accepted from pupils prove the undoing of much excel- 
lent direct teaching in language. Some teachers of 
language even at times neutralize the effect of their own 
instruction by failing to give the practice side of lan- 
guage the attention its importance demands. 

This indirect training, it should be remembered, may 
be more potent than the direct. The actual use of 
language in all of the various classes exercises a more 
lasting influence on the pupil's speech habits than all 
the teaching of facts and rules could possibly do. It 
was this point a leading educator had in mind when he 
said, "More English is taught in the schoolroom outside 
of the EngUsh classes than in them. '' 

Addressing the Indian school teachers in manual 
training, home economics, agriculture, and athletics, a 

39 



40 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

prominent educator of the Indians said: ''Upon you 
rests a special language duty. Our Indian pupils are 
freer to express themselves while working with you than 
when doing more formal class work. You may have 
even a better opportunity than the regular English 
teacher to help them acquire the right habits of speech. '* 

These sensible suggestions apply with equal force in 
all phases of school work. Teaching correct principles 
of language is of Httle value unless it is followed in all 
classes by well-directed practice that fixes these prin- 
ciples in tongue and fingers. 

Teachers in other than language classes give such 
language training indirectly. They can not interrupt 
their regular work constantly to give lessons in grammar 
and rhetoric without seriously interfering with the 
special subject at hand. But they can do a great deal 
indirectly to reinforce the language training and at the 
same time enforce far better the lesson that the language 
carries. 

Three things at least are practically possible: 1, An 
earnest attempt to set the right example in Hving lan- 
guage; 2. Persistent effort to keep the speech of pupils 
clear, to the point, and clean of common errors; 3. A 
firm stand for neat and accurate written work. 

To help the learner express his thoughts more clearly 
is the chief aim of this concerted effort. Any language 
help given him should be subordinated to this main 
purpose. Whether he is answering a question, making 
an explanation, discussing a point, or telling a story, the 
teacher^s business is to help him say clearly what he 
has to say. How else can his part in the recitation be 



SCHOOL STANDARDS IN SPEECH 41 

performed with credit to himself or be of real service to 
the class? 

Not mechanics of speech, but making clear the thought, 
should receive the major attention. Too many teachers, 
becoming over-concerned with minor mistakes, keep 
nagging the pupil with corrections. These less impor- 
tant matters may be tactfully taken care of while the 
pupil's mind is dominated by the idea of making himself 
clearly understood. 

All of the essentials of effective speech and writing are 
comprehended in that main purpose. Right posture, 
clear tones, proper enunciation and pronunciation, ac- 
curacy in choice of words, correctness in grammar and 
punctuation, well constructed sentences and paragraphs, 
are all necessary to give clearness^to speech or written 
work. The teacher, therefore, in working for clear 
expression in any line of thought, of necessity takes care 
indirectly of the various essentials of effective language. 

Some common standards to guide this general effort 
for the uplift of schoolroom speech might also prove 
helpful. In open discussion the chief needs of pupils, 
the part to be played by all teachers, and the standards 
by which the work is to be gauged, all may be deter- 
mined. A clearer understanding of these coromon 
duties would surely prove most helpful in uplifting the 
language work of the schools. 



QUESTIONS 

1. Explain and illustrate direct language teaching; indirect 
language teaching. 



42 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

2. Illustrate just what is implied in the suggestion that the 
indirect teaching of language parallel the direct. 

3. In what practical ways can teachers of other than language 
classes give most effective help in cultivating language skill and 
at the same time teach better the special subject at hand? 

4. What central thought should be kept constantly in mind 
in promoting better speech during the class period? 

5. What essentials of language are requisite in making our 
speech clear? 

EXERCISES 

1. Observe carefully the oral and written language habits of 
your pupils for one week, jotting down the main errors, then join 
your associates in a discussion of school standards in speech. 
Let the following suggestive outline guide the discussion: 

OEAL WKETTEN 

Posture in reciting Form of composition 

Voice habits SpeUing, Punctuation 

Enunciation and pronimciation Penmanship 

ORAL AND WRITTEN 

Correct Usage 
Sentence Structure 
Choice of Words 

What can be done by every teacher to help make the work 
better along these nine essential Enes? 



THE LIVING EXAMPLE 

Team work in teaching language assumes its most 
vital aspect when applied to the classroom speech of 
teachers. From one to six hours a day pupils are 
obliged to listen to this living language. The impression 
of it for good or ill on their language habits is deep and 
lasting. One may doubt Irving's jocular assertion that 
the quavers of Ichabod Crane's voice still linger in the 
Sleepy Hollow schoolhouse; but it is certain that the 
echoes from many a teacher's tongue linger ever after 
in the speech of his or her pupils. 

Teachers are vitally concerned that those echoes shall 
be praiseworthy. Pupils are entitled to an inspiring 
example in living language from their teachers. But 
more than this, the teacher's own personal and pro- 
fessional success is so closely connected with skill in 
speech that every teacher should be eager to set the 
right example in the use of language. 

The good effects of right language leadership are 
clearly shown in a remark made recently by an appre- 
ciative patron of a certain school: ^'I would not take a 

thousand dollars for the help in enunciation Miss 

gave to my boy while he was in the third grade. '* 

This help came mainly from the living example set 
by the teacher named. Her speaking voice was so 
pleasing, and her articulation so artistic that every child 
who came to be taught by her was given an uplift in 

43 



44 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

speech. He acquired skill to speak the words "trip- 
pingly on the tongue" largety from imitation of the 
teacher's skillful enunciation. 

Not every teacher is naturally so gifted; but all 
teachers can perfect their skill in speech by well-directed 
practice. The central purpose of this discussion is to offer 
a few practical suggestions to improve speech practice. 

First of all, a concerted effort to better the classroom 
language of teachers should be made in every school 
system. A frank discussion of the speech needs of 
teachers would be valuable. The effect of this should 
be to stimulate every teacher to strive to find practical 
ways of promoting self-improvement. 

The five essential lines along which this self-effort for 
better oral language may first be directed are these: 

1. The Teacher's Voice. What are the chief tone 
troubles of the teacher? Discuss their cause and cure. 

2. Essentials in Enunciation. What sounds give 
most difficulty? What words are commonly mispro- 
nounced? Suggest helpful exercises for cultivating skill 
in articulating words. In this connection, correct pro- 
nunciation may also be given attention. 

3. Oral Sentence Building. What are the common 
difficulties in sentence structure? How Inay these best 
be overcome and how may skill to shape sentences with 
ease and accuracy in speaking be cultivated? 

4. A Command of Words. What are the best ways 
to gain a rich and ready speaking vocabulary? 

5. Correct Usage. Discover the type mistakes com- 
monly made in violation of the rules of grammar. 
Suggest tongue training exercises to overcome them. 



THE LIVING EXAMPLE 45 

Since the last four of these essential phases of oral 
language are discussed rather fully in succeeding chap- 
ters of this book, it is not necessary to deal with them 
in further detail here. A few general suggestions as to 
the teacher's voice may prove helpful, however, at this 
point. 

The old singing master of our school used to say, 
"The voice is the greatest of all instruments, because 
God is its maker. '' 

This choice instrument is greatly overused and much 
misused among teachers. Generally speaking, teachers 
talk too much — far more than is necessary. And they 
use their voices wrongly, pitching them too high 
usually, and failing to sustain them with the proper 
methods of breathing. The results are disastrous to the 
teacher's tones, and very trying on the sensitive nerves 
of the pupils. 

The discipline of the school is greatly dependent on 
the voice of the teacher. A nervous nagging tone tends 
to make children restless and refractory. A well- 
rounded, well-placed quiet tone produces just the oppo- 
site efifect. The writer once visited two classrooms 
across the hall from each other. In the first, an inter- 
esting lesson was being taught in high-pitched tones with 
rapid-fire words by a brilliant teacher. The boys and 
girls were responding feverishly. In the other room, a 
thoughtful study was being conducted in clear, quiet 
tones by a gentle-voiced teacher. The children were 
working just as interestedly, but with no waste of nerve 
energy. The difference in the spirit of the two rooms 
was due entirely, it seemed, to the voices of the two 



46 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

teachers. Back of their voices, of course, was their 
personalities; but the voice was the main medium of 
communication. 

There is no thought here to blame teachers who 
happen to have faulty voices. They need counsel rather 
than censure. 

If wrong methods of voice production are used, the 
result of taxing the vocal organs for hours in directing 
and teaching energetic pupils may prove disastrous. 
Such trying work will tell in time on any voice, no matter 
how sweet-toned it is at the beginning. The teacher, 
however, may preserve and even strengthen her voice 
by understanding it and using it with care. 

Teachers must learn to protect themselves. They 
should give their voices an occasional recess. Both for 
the sake of the teacher and for the good of the work, 
children should usually be given a greater share in the 
talking. 

Teachers should also learn to listen to their own 
voices. A little first-hand study of vocal organs would 
help teachers to use their voices more intelligently. 
The essential principles underlying tone-production may 
be learned readily by a little careful observation of our 
own speech habits. 

This self-study of the voice should be directed along 
these three main lines : 

Proper Breathing 
Right Resonance 
Articulation and Modulation 

The chief cause of weak voices is weak breathing. 
Most people use only the small muscles of the upper 



THE LIVING EXAMPLE 47 

chest in this process. They should learn to breathe 
deeply by bringing the diaphragm into action and by 
using the strong muscles of the abdomen to assist in 
expelling and inhaling the air. 

Faulty tones are due to faulty resonance. Colds, 
adenoids, enlarged tonsils, and other affections of the 
head and throat often cause thick, unvibrant tones. 
The common ^Heacher tone," however, seems generally 
due to nerve tension that finally fixes a wrong place- 
ment of the tone. 

Effective articulation depends mainly on the easeful 
yet controlled action of the jaw, the tongue, and the 
lips. To be able to speak without *^ mouthing the words" 
one must use these organs with facility. 

The importance of the tongue in articulation was once 
suggested in an interesting way by an Indian. 

He and a white man were traveling together on a 
stage out West when they fell to talking about the Indian 
language. A chipmunk darted across the road. 

''What is the Indian name for the Chipmxmk?" the 
white man asked. 

" Wid-it-si," was the reply. 

"Wid-it-si," repeated the white man. 

The Indian laughed. 

"Oh you heap learn Injun talk quick," he said; "your 
tongue no tied." 

Proper modulation of the voice comes from natural 
self-expression. It is reflected in true conversational 
tones. When one is really at ease, one speaks naturally. 
More naturalness is needed in our schoolrooms. 

Most of our teachers would profit by keeping in their 



48 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

hearts this suggestion from Shakespeare^s "King Lear/' 
Speaking of Cordelia he says, 

"Her voice was ever soft, 
Gentle, and low; an excellent thing in woman." 

The male teacher usually needs, however, another 
guiding thought. His tones often are too low; they 
frequently are lacking in vibrancy and clearness. How 
many classes have been put to sleep by the monotony 
of such a teacher's tones? Unfortunately, it is difficult 
to rouse teachers of this sort to a necessity of brighten- 
ing their voices and making their speech sparkle. A 
common notion has prevailed, especially in scholastic 
circles, that if one takes care of the thought side of 
the lesson, the presentation side of it will take care of 
itself. 

A great deal of time is commonly wasted, and much 
teaching misses the mark because of the teacher's 
failure to speak clearly and convincingly. Thought is 
of first importance, of course; but we must remember 
that a thing said does not amount to much unless it is 
said well. 

Every day is the teacher's opportunity to cultivate 
skill to say things well. The teacher who fails to seize 
the privileges that come in this daily work to develop 
ability to make a clear-cut explanation, to shape ques- 
tions effectively, to give a good illustration, or to tell a 
story well when need calls for it, has missed one of the 
many advantages this work offers for self-improvement. 

Many teachers have turned their language opportun- 
ity to good account. Kate Douglas Wiggin, for ex- 



THE LIVING EXAMPLE 49 

ample, learned the art of story telling in the kinder- 
gartens of California. It was her artistic work there 
that finally gave to the world the story of "Patsy" and 
*'The Birds' Christmas Carol." Another striking ex- 
ample is found in President Wilson. Much of his power 
to speak and to write effectively came from his pains- 
taking practice in language while he was working as a 
teacher. 

This brings us to our final point. The teacher should 
both speak and write. Speech makes for fluency, 
writing for accuracy. If the teacher does nothing else 
but talk, talk, his speech is likely to develop into 
rambling preaching. It is a good thing frequently to 
try to express oneself effectively through the pen. 

Would you develop skill in authorship? Write some- 
thing every day. It may be only a friendly letter, a 
passing thought, a funny story, a paragraph to develop 
clearly the thought that you believe in strongly, or a tale 
to be told to your class. Try to express effectively 
what stirs you. These are the finger exercises in the 
practice towards authorship. 

Teachers might also help one another in language. 
If teachers' meetings were devoted in part to 
cultivating skill in the use of our mother tongue, the 
effect woidd manifest itself in greatly improved language 
throughout the whole school. 

If the living examples are right, if teachers train 
themselves to speak with skill and to write effectively, 
there will be little need to worry over the results in the 
teaching of our Hving language. It will be taught 
effectively in every class in a most vital way. 



50 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

QUESTIONS 

1. Restate the central thought of the foregoing chapter. 

2. Relate some experience of your own which illustrates the 
beneficial and lasting effects of the right kind of living example 
in language. 

3. Show clearly the close relationship between voice control 
and class control. Illustrate the point with practical instances. 

4. How can the teacher not only protect the voice, but 
strengthen and improve it while she is teaching? 

5. In what other ways may the teacher's school practice in 
language be turned to good account for the benefit of learners as 
well as of the teacher? 

EXERCISES 

1. Along which of the five essential language lines given on 
page 44 do you feel you need most help? Make a careful self 
study of your language habits before answering the question. 

2. Have a round table discussion on the following suggestions: 

a. What part of each teachers' meeting shall be devoted 
during the year to promoting better speech habits in the 
schools? 

b. A "Better Speech Club" for teachers. In what 
practical way can such an organization be brought about 
and made most useful? 

3. Make a list of the speech habits you like best on the part 
of the minister in the pulpit, the lawyer before the jury, the 
doctor or nurse in the sick room, the clerk behind the counter, 
the telephone girl, the mother. 



THE LANGUAGE STUDY PLAN 

Developing a course of study is not unlike constructing 
a building. There must be first, a general plan for the 
workers to follow; and second, suitable materials, 
properly shaped and arranged, to fit into that plan. 
Only as these two necessary elements are provided, can 
unity of action be brought about and right results be 
achieved. Concerted action and success In language 
work are likewise predicated on the unification of plan 
and materials. 

This means two things in one: 1. A general outHne, 
or brief, marking clearly the course to be followed from 
kindergarten to college; 2. Carefully selected texts and 
helps that articulate with the general plan and provide 
in teachable form Hfe-giving lessons to enrich and 
inspirit the course. The essential thing is that these 
two necessary elements be well articulated. 

Such a satisfactory articulation between the general 
plan and the texts provided for use is wanting. As a 
result the language work is generally in a more or less 
chaotic condition. Texts are generally supplied — often 
in great variety; and of the making of courses of study 
there is no end. But a systematic study plan in which 
these two essential elements are properly dove-tailed is 
yet to be developed for most schools. 

One of two main conditions usually obtains. In the 
majority of schools, textbooks are given the right of 

51 



52 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

way, the teachers following them without much regard 
to a guiding outline. In more closely supervised schools, 
a course of study, generally overloaded, is driven by the 
directive forces along the main road, the texts being 
obHged to take to the sidewalk or to get entirely out of 
the way. 

Neither of these plans is right. Both study outline 
and texts are necessary to promote substantial progress. 
Each should be made to reinforce the other. They 
should be brought together in a proper relationship. 

Four important things the study outline should do 
for the teacher: 1. Give a general view of the whole 
course; 2. Mark plainly the part to be covered by each 
grade or class; 3. Bring into the clear the essentials to 
be emphasized; 4. Help teachers to use to the best 
advantage the texts and other materials provided. 

Simplicity should mark the general study plan. If it 
is overcrowded with references and requirements it 
becomes a tangle of troubles. Bewildered by its multi- 
plicity of directions, the teacher is most likely to throw 
it aside and go her own way. A comphcated course 
of study, therefore, largely defeats its own purposes. 

The course, generally speaking, should give guidance, 
not substance, for the working out of the lessons. It 
cannot be both a series of texts and a study plan in one; 
but it may be most helpful in reinforcing the texts and 
in giving directions that assist teachers in adapting them 
best to the general scheme of things. 

The ordinary teacher, after all, must use textbooks. 
She will generally get better results, too, by following a 
good text, not slavishly but rather faithfully. Such a 



THE LANGUAGE STUDY PLAN 53 

text, in itself, is an enriched course of study in that 
subject. It certainly will give a more systematic pres- 
entation of the materials and more helpful lessons than 
the overworked teacher has time to provide, even if she 
has the ability. 

There are some teachers who feel that they need 
neither texts nor courses to guide them. Casting these 
common things aside, they go their individual ways, 
and sometimes make a brilHant success of their work. 
But it is of the comet variety, a vanishing splendor, 
much to be admired, but impossible to follow. 

Cooperative work cannot be done with such teachers. 
If each may fling aside texts and study plans, what sure 
means has the teacher of succeeding grades of knowing 
the ground that has been covered? How can super- 
visors and superintendents hold the work to the essen- 
tial continuity unless teachers do follow a series of 
worthy texts according to the general plan provided? 
Some sensible Hmitations must govern the individual 
teacher. 

This does not mean that freedom cannot prevail. It 
must prevail if progress is to be made. Every corps of 
teachers needs inspiring leadership. The course of study 
should be flexible enough to permit any teacher to 
exercise some individuality and to follow out promising 
experiments within the boundaries of common sense and 
common good. Such freedom will be generously granted 
if the course of study is, as it should be, truly demo- 
cratic. A definite yet flexible study plan is the thing 
most needed. 

To construct such a course in language is no easy task. 



54 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

This subject in itself is the most complicated of all — 
embodying as it does both oral and written composition 
with all of the different entangling alliances of each in 
the form of grammar, punctuation, enunciation, vocab- 
ulary building, spelling, hterature, and other kindred 
studies. 

The more or less indefinite nature of language adds 
also to the difficulty. It cannot be so readily blocked 
out into definite divisions as can mathematics, geography, 
history, or science. Attempts to mark off parts of the 
subject for the various grades to cover have usually 
resulted in throwing undue emphasis on the formal side 
of the work. More natural guide Hues must be found to 
lead us out of these difficulties. 

Another thing adds to the complexities of making a 
language course. The subject is so interwoven with 
every other subject as to be a vital part of each. Lan- 
guage is the chief means of cormnunication in every other 
study, and the expression side of most of them. It is 
the central subject of the curriculum. To make a satis- 
factory course in. language, therefore, is largely to outline 
the whole course of study. 

Language work should reinforce every other study in 
the schoolroom. Rightly planned it becomes not a 
burden but a benefit to the curriculum, reinforcing the 
whole structure in much the same way that the steel 
framework reinforces the modern business block. To 
construct such a building requires the clear-sighted 
planning of the architect, the wise guidance of the super- 
intendent of construction, and the intelligent workman- 
ship of the laborers. It likewise takes rightly directed 



THE LANGUAGE STUDY PLAN 55 

team work to plan and carry to successful completion 
such a course of study as herein described. 

The following are some of the vital problems to be 
solved in the achievement: 

L What is the foundational principle on which 
language training should be based? 

2. How can the composition content of the course 
be best correlated with the other subjects of the curri- 
culum? 

3. How can literature and language be blended to 
the advantage of both subjects? 

4. What shall be the relation of oral to written work? 

5. What exercises shall be planned to give necessary 
drills in speech and writing? 

6. How can grammar be effectively taught without 
dominating the course? 

7. What vocabulary building exercises shall be given 
and how? 

8. By what practical methods can the art of author- 
ship be best cultivated and turned to service by our 
schools? 

A satisfactory solving of these vital problems is the 
necessary first step in working out a systematic study 
plan in language. With these questions answered, the 
field may be more intelhgently mapped out, each 
grade assigned its rightful part of the work, and 
proper standards set for each division of the school 
to achieve. 

The demand for such a well organized, forward- 
moving language course is nation-wide. Superintend- 
ents, supervisors, and teachers everywhere are calling 



56 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

for a workable plan by following which they may co- 
operate more successfully and teach more effectively 
our national speech. 

The plan, to win popular approval, must achieve at 
least these desired results: 

1. Articulate more closely the work of grade and 
high schools. 

2. Distribute the language duties rightly. 

3. Give plainer objectives to be achieved by each 
division of the school. 

4. Economize time and effort by proper correlation 
with the various subjects, and by the elimination of 
nonessentials. 

5. Make the various studies within the language 
group reinforce one another better. 

In a word, the plan must make possible more effective 
team work in the teaching of our mother tongue. 

The "Progressive Course in Language" that follows 
has been worked out to meet this national need. It 
provides a way by which teachers may better work 
together in training pupils for serviceable self-expression. 
It is offered here as a working basis for discussion and 
further experiment. 

The vital problems involved in this graphically pre- 
sented plan are all dealt with concretely in the succeed- 
ing chapters of this book. 



,^^jt,ai^Mtt^igttmtm 



I- 



Progressive 

Course 

in 
Language 



DFrecfing |2 
Expression 
More 

Definitely 1 1 
to Service 



SEfliOR HIGH SCHOOA. 



IQ 




Making 
Sure the 
Fundamet!* 
talsof 
Effective 6 
Language 



COURSES IN LIVING LITERATURE 
AND APPUED COMPOSITION 

Selected Classics Studied in Settiziga. 

Public Speaking and Debating. 

Story Studies, Stoiy Telling (Elective). 

Literary InterpretatiQa with Dramatics. 
Elementary Joiiraalism with Newspaper aad 

Magazine Studies. 
Comnierdal EngliEh-»-Oral and Written. 



■Course in American Literature, 
Speaking and Reading Course (Electsve). 
Composition — Oral and Written Topics. 



JUNIOR HiOH SCHOOL 



ESSENTiALS OF LANGUAGE 

Sodalized. Studies in Composition. 
Socialized Studies in Literature (Classic and Current), 
with Coxirse in Library Work. 



Systematic Course in Practical Grammar — Applied in 

Oral and Written Composition. 

Standard Selections from Living Literature and Directed 

Library Readmgs. 



Fixing 

Right 

Habits 

OJ 5 

Speed) 



Right 

Beginnings 
in Self 
Expression 
3 



Paragraph and Sentence Building and Vocabulary Studies— 

Applied in Live Composition Work. 

Reading of Choice Selections in Living Literature — with 

Guided Home Readings. 



ELEP^ENTARY SCHOOL 



LANGUAGE LESSONS-ORAL AND WRITTEN 

Elementary Composition on Topics Connected Closely with 

Out-of-School and In-School Life of Pupils. 
Beginnings in Practical Grammar, Punctuation, and Vocabulary. 
Studies in Literature for Children and Home Readings. 



Beginnings in Paragraph Building on Live Topics. 

Correct Usage Lessons and Drills to Fix Right Speech Habits. 

Studies in Literature for Children — with Home Readings. 



Oral Composition in Interesting Topics— Beginnings in Written Work. 
Sentence and Vocabulary Building — Correct Usage Exercises and Drills. 
Story Studies and Story Telling — with Dramatization of Stories. 



PRIIVIARY SCHOOL 



JNFORMAL LESSONS IN LANGUAGE- MAINLY ORAL- 
BLENDED WITH OTHER WORK 

Conversation Lessons — Tellmg and Playing Stories — Beginnings in Writing. 
Language Games and Drills for Correct Usage — Vocabulary Exercises. 
Studies in Reading, with Beginnings of Home Reading. Memory Work. 

Conversation Lesson on Topics Close to Child Life — Telling and Playing Stories. 
Language Games and Drills for Tongue Training. Vocabulary Work. 
Reading Lessons with Enunciation Exercises and Memory Work. 



Language Talks on Simple Topics— Telling and Playing Stori«. 
Language GamM ead Drills — with Word Oames for Vocabulary BuildLag. 
Beginnings in Reading — with Memory Exercises and Phonics. 



KINDERGARTEN AND HOIViE 



58 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

THE PRIMARY SCHOOI/ 

Primary language work of necessity must be almost 
entirely oral. Only a few first steps in written expres- 
sion can be taken in these grades. These beginnings 
should be so made as not to create discouragement and 
dislike for written composition. 

Freedom and spontaneity should not be sacrificed 
for form. '' Fluency first, then fluency with accuracy, " 
is a good guide to follow. Correction should be aimed, 
not at killing the pupiFs natural expression, but at 
bringing it up to its best. 

The subjects chosen should connect closely with 
child life. The pupil's home activities, his experiences 
with friends and playmates, his recreation, the holidays, 
the community Ufe, and the great out-of-doors, all teem 
with topics of first-hand interest. The work of the 
primary teacher is largely the directing of his natural 
talk about these natural subjects. 

Language lessons in these beginning grades should 
be closely correlated with other studies. Reading, 
spelling, phonics, geography, history, nature, art, may 
well be blended with language expression. 

Purposeful play should be used to inspirit the work. 
Dramatizing stories, playing language games, creating 
plays, will be found most interesting and serviceable 
exercises for little folk. 

The central aim in all primary language lessons 
should be to cultivate ease and spontaneity in the use 
of speech. Children should be made to feel " at home, " 
and encouraged to express their own thoughts and feel- 



THE LANGUAGE STUDY "PLAN 59 

ings for the sake of informing and interesting others. 
They should be tactfully guided away from wrong 
forms without being made self-conscious and halting in 
their use of speech. 

THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL*^ 

Language work in the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades 
should be mainly oral. Well defined lessons in written 
work, however, should also be given here. The oral 
and written work should be closely connected. 

Fluency and spontaneity is still the central aim. 
The pupiFs natural expression should be cultivated, but 
with closer attention to the training of both tongue and 
fingers to use right forms of speech. 

Corrective and preventive exercises skonld connect 
closely with the learner's real-life language. Exercises 
and drills to develop and to fix right language habits 
should grow out of the needs of the pupil as they are 
revealed in his speech and writing. 

Composition lessons should lead the learner to 
express himself, not for the sake of expression, but for 
the sake of serving a real-life purpose. The subjects 
should be drawn from real life, and they may be cor- 
related closely with other studies to advantage. 

Vocabulary work, enunciation exercises, and lessons 
in grammar should be more systematically given than 
in preceding grades. A building up of the essentials 
of speech may well begin here. 

The central aim is still to cultivate fluency, but 
fluency with accuracy. The emphasis should still be 
upon freedom of expression, but the pupil should be 



6o OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

guided tactfuUy to sureness of speech, and correct usage 
should be fixed in his tongue and fingers by directed 
drills to prevent and to overcome type errors in lan- 
guage. 

THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

In the Jimior High School, oral and written work 
should both receive definite attention. The emphasis 
still should be on oral work. Each of these forms of 
expression should be made to reinforce the other. 

Socialized studies in composition and literature 
should be the predominant work in this division of the 
school. The learner here may be thrown upon his 
individual responsibility to work out his thought con- 
tributions in speech and writing for the class. 

Systematic studies in vocabulary building, grammar, 
punctuation, and enunciation should also characterize 
the course here. The aim should be to give the student 
a solid foundation for right habits of speech. 

The essentials of speech taught should be vitalized by 
application to the learner's daily life language. 

The composition work should be given real meaning 
and real life purpose. Every lesson should be aimed 
definitely at service. 

The chief objective in the Junior High School should 
be to give pupils a mastery of the essentials of effective 
speech. Before the student is ready to do effective work 
in the advanced grades he should — • 

1. Have command of a good working vocabulary. 

2. Be able to read fluently and accurately. 

3. Have a clear and practical knowledge of the 
essentials of grammar. 



THE LANGUAGE STUDY PLAN 6i 

4. Be able to build clear and correct sentences and 
paragraphs to express his own thoughts. 

5. Punctuate properly and enunciate clearly. 

6. Speak clearly and interestingly on topics that 
connect closely with his life. 

SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

Real life purpose should even more clearly character- 
ize the various courses in English offered in the Senior 
High School. 

Differentiation of these courses into clearly defined 
work along lines of composition and literature and oral 
expression can be made here. 

Definiteness should mark these different courses. 
Most of them may be but a semester in length. Better 
a brief course with a clear objective than the rambling 
about in Hterary circles and the reviewing of elementary 
English, which too often characterize the high school 
work. 

The plan suggested for this division of the school can 
be readily adapted to varying conditions. The essential 
thing to be kept in mind is this: 

Let Senior High School English be made to mean 
really serviceable self-expression. 

Each of the various studies proposed in the progres- 
sive course offers opportunity for expression that 
counts for something in school and in community life. 
Students in this division of the school should be trained 
to take a real part in the world. Their language and 
literary activities can be made an excellent means to 
help them do this most effectively. 



62 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 



QUESTIONS 

1. What is the essential thing to be kept in mind in making 
a unified language study plan? 

2. Why are both the general outline and suitable texts neces- 
sary in promoting the course of study? 

3. Why must every teacher for her own good as well as that 
of the school work cooperatively with other teachers? 

4. What democratic freedom is necessary to promote pro- 
gress? 

5. Why is it especially necessary to keep the language course 
unified, giving to each grade its rightful part in the program, and 
making it move by progressive steps to the accomplishment of 
the main purposes in view? 

6. What are the leading problems involved in making a 
unified course of study in language? 

EXERCISES 

1. Write briefly on each of the following points: a. Three 
main purposes of the language course of study; b. What general 
part in working out the course may best be played by the primary 
school; by the elementary school; by the junior high school; by 
the senior high school? Have a round table discussion of these 
points. 

2. Show clearly why language may be called the central 
subject of the curriculum. What does the satisfactory working 
out of the language course mean to the whole course? 

3. Secure two good courses of study in language. Make a 
brief outline of each showing the grade-by-grade plan of work: 
a. In composition, b. In practical grammar, c. In vocabulary 
work. 

4. Study the courses also from these viewpoints: a. How do 
they connect language with life? b. In what way do they 
correlate language with other studies? c. Are the plans so made 
as to bring about effective cooperation? • 



Ill 

GETTING RIGHT RESULTS IN COM- 
POSITION 

The central aim of the language lesson is to lead the 
learner to express himself — not some one else — and to 
help him to efficiency in serviceable self-expression. 



63 



CONNECTING COMPOSITION WITH LIFE 

Skill in speech and in writing comes only through well 
directed practice in genuine self-expression. Every 
class may give such practice if the teacher, holding to 
this central principle of language teaching, will make the 
thought development side of the recitation not a parrot- 
like repetition of the printed page, nor an echoing of the 
teacher^s ideas, but an opportunity for the pupils to 
express their own thoughts and experiences. 

Composition work has been too largely imitative and 
reproductive. It has been based too much on the book, 
too Httle on hfe, consisting in the main of retelling 
stories, memorizing and paraphrasing poems, rewriting 
the thoughts and experiences of others — with a picture 
lesson thrown in occasionally for the sake of variety. 

Life calls for a decidedly different kind of traim'ng. 
It demands original, spontaneous seK-expression. To 
meet the constantly changing situations in everyday 
activities, men must have initiative, and individuahty in 
speech, consistent always with courtesy and good usage. 

Language work based on literatin-e alone does not 
give adequate training. To confine a pupil to copying 
Uterary models, no matter how perfect, is to give him 
but a narrow development in the art of using speech. 
It may be helpful at times to imitate literary models; 
but composition work to serve the purposes of hfe 
must be mainly constructive and creative. 

65 



66 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

Efficient training in the use of language comes from 
using it as in real life. To train the pupil to speak well, 
we must let him speak about subjects of first-hand 
interest to Mm — speak under the impulse of a true 
motive, and we must help him the while to speak 
effectively. This, in essence, is Uve language teaching. 

Children are full of things to express. Every day 
brings them thoughts and experiences which they are 
constantly endeavoring to convey to others. It is the 
business of the teacher to discover the worth-while 
thoughts of the learner, to give him a chance to ex- 
press them, and to train him to express them well. 

This fundamental principle of language pedagogy was 
first made clear to the writer by an experience he once 
had in teaching a high school class in English. When 
the work was begun, he taught composition as it had 
been taught to him, by basing it for the most part on 
the classics. 

The language work was made merely a handmaid of 
literature. The students were required to paraphrase 
striking parts of poems; to re-describe in their own words 
"Ichabod Crane/' ** Scrooge," "Sir Roger deCoverley," 
and other characters in Hterature; to retell "The Mer- 
chant of Venice," "Silas Marner," and other stories; 
and regularly, during a certain year of the course, they 
were obliged to rewrite the "Autobiography of Frank- 
lin, " paragraph by paragraph. 

These lessons brought some worthwhile results, it is 
true. The mistakes in grammar, punctuation, and 
spelling were corrected; the tangles in sentence structure 
were straightened out; and various other language needs 



CONNECTING COMPOSITION WITH LIFE 67 

were cared for — all for the benefit of the class in general, 
and of the writer of the paragraph in particular. The 
students were rather effectively trained by this process 
to handle written forms of English. But it was 
certainly a dry grind both for them and for the teacher, 
and the work all smacked decidedly of the book. 

One day, in sheer desperation to escape the monotony 
of these imitative exercises, the teacher threw them 
aside, and began to read from a volume of nature 
sketches by John Burroughs, called "Bird Enemies." 
As he was reading the little incidents in which the 
writer tells how birds are killed, one boy raised his hand. 

"What is it, Albert?" 

"Why, I saw birds killed in an unusual way once. " 

"How was that?" 

"Well, I used to go hunting quail, and every morning, 
as I took my gun to tramp over the fields, an old hawk 
would rise from the cHff near our ranch and begin to 
circle above me. When I scared up a bunch of quail, 
he would dive down and get his breakfast. " 

"Oh, I saw a snake once swallowing a young meadow 
lark," said another boy. Then another and another 
and another wanted to talk. Before the lesson was over, 
half the class had given some interesting first-hand 
experience with birds and their enemies. 

"Why, you boys and girls might make a book of bird 
stories," the teacher suggested. "Suppose you begin 
it now by each writing for to-morrow your best story 
about how birds are killed. " 

The students, thus stimulated, went enthusiastically 
at the w^ritten work. Next day they were given an 



68 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

opportunity to read the results. Every one had some- 
thing real to tell. The expression was often crude, but 
always it was spontaneous, individual, full of life. One 
boy had an interesting story about an eagle. 

"Your experience, Will, " said the teacher, "was much 
like that of Mr. Burroughs. " 

"Yes, I saw about the same thing,'' responded the 
boy. 

"What is the difference between your stories?" 

"Oh, he knows how to tell it; I don't," came the 
frank reply. 

"But your story can be brightened and made clearer 
and richer. Let us try it. " 

The class began to help Will improve his paragraph, 
with the result that a very readable Httle composition 
was soon made. Then the Burroughs sketch was read 
again with a keen, kindred interest. 

The pupils had caught something of the spirit of 
authorship. But more; they were made to feel that 
they had something in their own lives worth saying, 
and they took delight in trying to say it well. They also 
revealed a wealth of life that the book-bound teacher 
seldom touches — the hfe beyond the school. 

"The day is coming," says Dr. Winship, "when we 
shall give the child credit for what is in his brains 
whether the teacher puts it there or not." A great 
thought plainly put. This also is true: The language 
lesson is the best place to discover what the pupil has 
gained in thought and experiences outside of the school- 
room. 

These out-of-school experiences offer the best possible 



CONNECTING COMPOSITION WITH LIFE 69 

material for original and serviceable composition. They 
are individual and vital. From the realm of his own 
real life alone can the pupil contribute real thoughts to 
others. 

The general lack of success in composition teaching 
and the common dislike of this work may be accounted 
for right here. The study has been driven along arti- 
ficial lines of expression. Pupils have been obhged to 
talk and to write on subjects in which they had no in- 
herent interest. The results could scarcely be other 
than unnatural and generally unsatisfactory. 

Language lessons, to have a challenging appeal for 
the youthful learner, must come within the circle of his 
interests. They must afford him opportunity to discuss 
hving issues, to relate his worth-while experiences, to 
express his natural thoughts and feelings. The themes 
for composition must come from within the compass of 
his own youthful world. 

What is the world of youth? In one sense, it is the 
same as that of older folk. He lives under the same 
sky with them; he sees the same scenes; he listens to the 
same language; he participates in the same general 
activities. It is true he sees the world through the eyes 
of youth, and interprets what he sees with a youthful 
mind; but his general interests follow the basic lines of 
all human interest. 

The world of youth is a dramatic world. The youth 
is constantly imitating in realistic play the doings of his 
elders. He makes his world one of eager activity, full 
of tense, yet naturally hopeful struggles. It is charac- 
terized too by honest, earnest expression of real thought 



70 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

and feeling. He is continually discussing questions that 
affect his interests; solving seriously the fundamental 
problems of life as they relate to his own realm of 
thought and action. 

A decent respect for the right of youth to discuss his 
own life problems would greatly help to put real life 
into composition work. More confidence on the part 
of teachers in the worth of the opinions of their pupils 
would call forth the best from these young lives. A 
freer in-pouring of the real thoughts and experiences of 
the learner into the class work would enrich and democ- 
ratize the recitation, and give to the language lesson 
the zeal that brings right results. 

QUESTIONS 

1. What is the most pressing language need for every 
person? 

2. Why is composition work based on books alone not ade- 
quate to meet this need? 

3. How can the learner best be trained to use language skill- 
fully to express his own thoughts and feelings? 

4. In what way does the real language lesson offer opportuni- 
ties to turn the real-life interests of the learner to educative 
account? 

5. How is the child world like that of adults? In what 
respect does it differ from the adult world? 

6. Why must composition lessons be connected closely with 
life? 

EXERCISES 

1. Choose from among schoolroom papei^ a composition 
which shows clearly that the pupil was not expressing his own 
thoughts. Select another that shows genuine self-expression 
produced under the stimulus of a true life motive. Make a com- 



CONNECTING COMPOSITION WITH LIFE 71 

parative study of these two types of compositions. In what 
essentials do they differ? 

2. Plan and teach a composition lesson that connects closely 
with the life of your pupils. Give it a natural motive, and be 
ready to report the result. 



LIFE LINES IN LANGUAGE 

When the pioneer went West, he found the mountain 
streams following their natural courses and losing them- 
selves in the wastes. He made new channels, following 
generally the old natural waterways. Then, leading the 
streams along these, he spread the life-giving waters 
over the parched plain and "made the desert blossom 
as the rose." 

Following the pioneer came the electrical engineer. 
He saw the leaping waters wasting their energy and 
turned this natural force to other service. Building 
great pipe lines along the canyon walls, he led the waters 
to a certain point and let them make one mighty leap 
down through the turbines to turn the dynamos and 
generate electricity. The sparkle and energy of the 
streams was thus transformed into electric light and 
power. 

The educational process is not unlike these practical 
processes. The chief business of the school is to utilize 
the natural activities of the pupil in training him for the 
work of Hfe. 

Teachers have surely been slow in turning the natural 
currents of language expression to educative account. 
Engrossed in the book side of their work, they have 
neglected to study the learner's real hfe, much less to 
direct the expression of that life to serviceable ends. 
We shall come one day, it is hoped, to realize more 

72 



LIFE LINES IN LANGUAGE 73 

keenly the profound educational significance of the 
Biblical phrase, *'And a little child shall lead them." 

Composition work, to be most successful, must 
parallel rather closely the life lines in language. If it is 
to give really vital training it must deal with the native 
interests of the learner. If it is to be valuable, it must 
direct his natural expression into channels that lead 
towards real life service. 

What are the natural language Hfe lines? What are 
the subjects on which the pupils are constantly express- 
ing themselves? What are the native interests of youth? 

At first glance there would seem to be a multitude of 
these interests. The activities of young people multiply 
into the millions. Each one seems to be following his 
own special interests. Yet all of these various interests 
naturally follow along a few basic life Hnes. 

These fundamental lines of natural expression are 
unchangeable. They will be found running through the 
great elemental human interests, which remain the same 
throughout the years. Man, for example, has always 
had an interest in travel, no matter what the means of 
locomotion, whether afoot or on horseback, by wagon or 
by rail, in automobile or in airship. The interest in 
changing scenes and in new experiences occasioned by 
the journey has remained constant. Likewise his funda- 
mental interest in nature, in recreation, in the drama, 
in the industrial activities, and in other things of common 
appeal, has remained constant. 

The first thing necessary in planning a course in com- 
position is to determine what are these basic interests. 
The second essential is to mark the best way along which 



74 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

the natural currents of expression may be directed 
towards tlie accomplishing of the central purposes of 
true education. 

What these fundamental interests are may be variously 
stated. There must be general agreement, however, 
that the following outline suggests most of the things of 
common and constant appeal : 

1. Recreation — Outdoor sports and games, hunting 
and fishing, indoor pastimes, holiday celebrations, plays, 
shows, music, and other recreative activities. 

2. Nature — Animal, bird, insect, reptile and water 
life, the woods, prairies, streams, hills, canyons, lakes, 
ocean, the stars, and all other natural phenomena. 

3. Companionship — Family, playmates, people of 
the neighborhood, school, and social circle. 

4. Work of the World — Various human activities 
connected with making and producing, buying, selling 
and transporting the commodities of the world; as, 
farming, ranching, mining, manufacturing, railroading, 
shipping, building, inventing, trading. 

5. Peoples and Places — Folk of other lands, strange 
customs, travel and tales of travel, life in city and 
country. 

6. Historical Tales — ^Local history, stories of the 
fireside, stories of state and country, stories of other 
lands, romance of human struggle and achievement. 

7. Civic Activities — Work of the policeman, fireman, 
soldier, sailor, postman, and others connected with civic 
duties. 

8. Literature and Art — Stories, poems, authors and 
their books, current literature, pictures, sculpture. 



LIFE LINES IN LANGUAGE 75 

architecture, and other forms of literary and art expres- 
sion. 

The work in composition following these general 
guide lines correlates naturally with every essential 
study in the curriculum, and this is as it should be. 
Language work to strengthen itself must be interwoven 
with all of the other strong Unes that make up the 
whole course of study. 

Language expression, as already said, has been limited 
mostly to literary activities. Literature bears a close 
relationship to language, it is true; but so, too, does 
natural science, geography, history, the social and indus- 
trial studies, civics, hygiene, and other vital subjects 
that are included in the enriched course. From all these 
sources, impelling themes may be drawn for such vital- 
ized language training as best prepares pupils to use 
speech with skill and purpose. 

This rich composition content must be well organized, 
to be sure. Each grade should be given its proper share 
of the materials, selected and arranged according to the 
general capacity of the class. In other words, a pro- 
gressive program of expression work along the various 
vital lines should be made to provide for a steady for- 
ward movement in the work throughout the grades. 

Lack of such a progressive plan has caused the com- 
position work largely to go in circles. Without it 
teachers, being more or less at sea, have taken whatever 
they liked best or could get most easily. As a result 
different grades would often be talking and writing on 
the same subjects in the same way. Such interest- 
killing repetition is unnecessary. The subject matter 



76 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

may easily be varied from year to year and given in the 
form best fitted to the growth of the class. Yet the 
essential lines of interest may be followed faithfully in 
progressing towards the educative end in view. 

The value thus of correlating language systematically 
with other studies has not been generally appreciated. 
It may yet come to be keenly realized that through cor- 
relative composition work lies a way to unify the whole 
course, to economize effort, and to enforce the various 
lessons to be taught. The educative value of properly 
directed expression can scarcely be over-estimated. 

Recreation may be doubly enriched, through tact- 
fully guided language work. Beginning with the simple 
plays of childhood and following through the varying 
recreative activities, the growing learner should be given 
opportunity first to talk of his pleasures, to tell of his 
liveliest experiences in games and sports, and secondly, 
to join in creating plays and games for the entertainment 
of himself and others. During such delightful lessons, 
the opportunities will be many to stimulate a love for 
wliolesome recreation, and through it to cultivate habits 
that lead to health and happiness. The development of 
the art of self entertainment growing out of such work 
is also invaluable. 

An intelligent love of nature in her various manifes- 
tations can likewise be most effectively cultivated 
through correlating language and nature study. To 
make opportunity for pupils to tell of their observations 
and experiences in the great out-of-doors, is not only to 
open their eyes, their ears, and their hearts rightly 
toward nature, but to turn their actions toward prac- 



LIFE LINES IN LANGUAGE 77 

tical service in the conservation of natural resources. The 
wealth of material to be found here for every grade can 
be so given as to make the work, not a mere marking of 
time, but a forward moving course leading along this 
great line of interest steadily upward through all the 
grades. 

Following the historical life line also, the pupil may 
be led first through the simple home history, on through 
the local history stories of community and state, to the 
history of his country and the world at large. The end 
of all of this expression should be to cultivate in the 
learner proper appreciation of the pioneers, a sane hero 
worship, right ideals, and a practical patriotism that will 
express itself constantly in serviceable citizenship. 
Language and history may thus be correlated to the 
great advantage of both subjects. 

Appreciation of the work of the world also may be 
cultivated through language work. Pupils like to talk 
about the industrial and other activities throbbing 
everywhere about them. Their experiences in watching 
or in participating in the various processes of making, 
doing, and producing may well be turned to educative 
account by stimulating the right attitude towards work 
in all of its essential phases. This rich source may 
readily supply ample materials fitted to develop the 
occupational interests of pupils of every grade for 
vitalized language lessons. 

Literature offers still another rich source of supply 
for live composition lessons. To be aKve, however, 
these lessons must be different from those ordinarily 
given, where language work is based on literature; they 



78 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

must be more than merely reading and memorizing 
poems and reproducing tales. Language work based 
on literature should call forth, as should other language 
lessons, an expression of original thoughts and experi- 
ences, which may be directed towards some worthy 
social service. For illustration: A democratic discus- 
sion of such general subjects as ''Favorite Authors," 
''Home Library Friends, " " Springtime Tales, " " Christ- 
mas in Song and Story, " *' Poems of Patriotism, " *'Hero 
Tales of Our Country, '* and other like inviting subjects 
would offer the best kind of language training. More 
than this, such lessons would give pupils opportunity 
to help guide their own reading habits into right 
channels. 

Still another correlation of language with other sub- 
jects is possible through its use in connection with the 
other expression studies, art, and music. This blending 
may be brought about in two ways: First, by giving 
pupils opportimity to talk and write about artists and 
musicians and their works, and second, by using art 
in connection with their own compositions, and by set- 
ting to music some of the best poems created by the 
pupils themselves. 

Interlacing thus with all of the various subjects, the 
composition course becomes a vital part of the whole 
curriculum. Such a course, following the natural life 
lines of expression, achieves four worthy things in one: 
1. Composition work is developed according to the 
natural method; 2. The learner is assured his inherent 
right to express himself; 3. Every other course in the 
curriculum is reinforced and enriched through correla- 



LIFE LINES IN LANGUAGE 79 

tion with language; 4. The natural expression of the 
pupil is guided into channels that lead to worthy service. 
Thus language work is restored to its true place in the 
educative process, and recognized as the finest means 
for social service that the race has developed. 

QUESTIONS 

1 . What lessons for the teacher of language are to be found in 
the processes of irrigation and electrical engineering? Illustrate 
by reporting some language lesson you have observed wherein the 
natural expression of the pupils was directed towards serviceable 
ends. 

2. Why must the composition work, to be both vital and 
valuable, follow the basic life lines of human interest? 

3. What are the great elemental interests of humanity that 
have persisted throughout the changing years? 

4. Show how a course of composition dealing with these 
essential interests correlates closely with practically all subjects 
in the best courses of study. 

5. Name and explain each of the four objects attained by a 
properly vitalized course of study in language. 

EXERCISES 

1. Write ten general subjects which have an impelling natural 
interest for pupils (a) of the elementary school and (b) of junior and 
senior high schools. 

Be ready to join with your associates in a discussion of these 
interests from the following viewpoints: 1. Which of the lines 
of interest persist throughout the school years? 2. How might 
these interests be turned to educative account in composition 
classes? 

2. Let the class make a selection of some general subject of 
interest; as, "Travel," "Favorite Pastimes," "Folk Tales of the 
Community," "Industries." Let each member then choose an 
individual subject within the class subject and prepare a talk or 



8o OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

paper dealing with real life experiences. Share the results with 
the class. 

3. Show how the editor, the minister, the leader of boys' or 
girls' clubs, the athletic coach, the nurse, the salesman must 
appeal to life lines of interest to be successful. 



LEADING THE LEARNER TO EXPRESS HIMSELF 

To create conditions wherein the pupil feels impelled — 
not compelled — to express himself, is the essential first 
step towards success in language teaching. Two things 
are necessary to get this spontaneous self-expression: 
1. A subject that connects vitally with the life of the 
learner; 2. Natural stimulus through question and 
suggestion. Sometimes mere mention of the subject is 
sufficient to start the pupils talking. The work of the 
teacher then is simply that of directing expression along 
desired lines. At other times this lead is not enough; 
pupils must be given suggestions and helps to be induced 
to express themselves freely. 

Five general ways offer themselves as aids to the 
teacher here: 1. Personal experiences ; 2. Suggestive 
questions and topics; 3. Literature close to child life; 
4. Pictures and objects; 5. Field trips and other 
activities. 

Of these, the personal experience is generally most 
effective. To illustrate, a certain sixth grade teacher, 
in leading his class to tell of their experiences with wild 
animals, began the lesson by relating how he had once 
watched two chipmunks stealing grain from a box. 
Thinking to catch the little fellows, he had slipped a 
board over the opening; but when he tried to grab the 
chipmunks, they flashed up his arm and escaped. A 
few moments later they came in again. This time, how- 
Si 



82 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

ever, only one went into the box. The other stood 
guard, and at the least movement of their enemy, the 
Httle sentinel would sound the alarm and both would 
skip to safety. 

A big boy in the back of the room began to wave his 
hand excitedly. He was given a chance to speak. 

"Why, — ^why, — I could-a told you how to caught 
those chipmunks,'' he said. 

*'How would you have done it, John?" 

"Why, I'd-a took a gunny sack and put over the hole, 
and they'd-a jumped in the sack, and then I'd-a had 'em." 

"You seem to have caught chipmunks, my boy," 
the teacher suggested. 

"Oh, yes, lots o' times." 

"Have you ever caught anything else?" 

"I've trapped a lot of squirrels." 

The other boys and girls began to get interested. It 
was seldom that John, who had been held back a year 
or two because he couldn't pass the regular work, 
expressed himself. The pupils listened eagerly as he 
told how he trapped squirrels. 

"Have you ever trapped any other animal?" the 
teacher asked. 

"Trapped coyotes with father all one winter," 
responded John. 

Then the other boys and girls began to ply the boy 
with questions. They held him for nearly half an hour 
teUing of his experiences. He was a natural born 
trapper. From that day on, John began to grow in his 
work. The language lesson had opened the way for the 
real John to express himself. 



LEADING THE LEARNER TO EXPRESS HIMSELF S^ 

The teacher who keeps alive the experiences of youth 
has always a kind of magic wand with which to call forth 
the life of the youthful learner. A living interest in 
things that interest the one being taught more than all 
else is likely to enkindle a desire in the pupil to ex- 
press himself. 

Next to a well told personal experience, the "fetching 
question" seems most effective in stimulating self- 
expression. Language questions should be something 
more than mere matter of fact queries. Many teachers 
waste time with such empty interrogations as, "How 
many of you have seen a horse?" The answer is a show 
of hands. But ask the question, "What is your most 
exciting experience with a horse?" or, "What is the most 
intelligent thing you ever saw a horse do?" The answer 
to such a question is a story. 

The question is one of the main tools in teaching. 
By means of it the pupil may be led to reveal his 
thoughts, feelings, experiences, and menteil needs. With 
it also the teacher is enabled not only to arouse but to 
direct the pupil's expression. It, therefore, makes both 
an excellent starter and a steering gear for the language 
lesson. 

But to stimulate thought and to guide it along right 
channels the question must be thoughtfully made and 
rightfully aimed. It is an old saying that "any fool 
can ask questions that no wise man can answer." The 
questions of the fool nevertheless are generally as empty 
as the brain that conceives them. A thoughtful ques- 
tion springs from the thoughtful mind. Such questions 
alone beget thought. 



84 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

Skill to shape the "fetching question" is one of the 
prime essentials in teaching. Too many teachers seem 
not to appreciate this. As a result they do not try 
seriously to cultivate such skill. They are continually 
asking questions that get the class nowhere except 
perhaps through a few non-important facts about the 
lesson. A little practice each day in making thought- 
impelling questions would increase greatly the efficiency of 
any teacher, and bring far better results from the class. 

Closely allied to the question as a stimulus to expres- 
sion is the suggestive topic. For the sake of variety, 
the language lesson may at times be opened with a list 
of topics from which the pupil may choose. For 
example: 

A Runaway Troubles of a Camp Cook 

A Lost Child A Police Problem 

A Boat Trip Caught in a Storm 

A Bad Blaze A Laughable Upset 

An Accident A True Fish Story 

Pupils usually respond freely to such stimuli with 
interesting word pictures or incidents from real life. 

Poems and stories have long been made a basis for 
language work. Two faults, however, have marked the 
use of this material. In the first place, the literature 
has not been close to the learner's hfe; and secondly, as 
already pointed out, it has been used almost entirely 
for reproduction and memorization. 

Literature should be read not for imitation but for 
inspiration. In the language lesson it may be both a 
stimulus to expression and a standard of measurement. 
This double u^e of hterature was clearly illustrated in 



LEADING THE LEARNER TO EXPRESS HIMSELF 85 

the lesson sketched in a preceding chapter on "How 
Birds are Killed/' 

Stories or poems used to stimulate self-expression, as 
there shown, must touch the learner's interests in some 
vital way. They should be choice, of course, but not 
too far removed from present day experiences. Steven- 
son's "Swing," Riley's "Little Mandy's Christmas 
Tree," or "A Winter Night" by Mary F. Butts, are 
illustrative of poems for this purpose, effective with 
primary grades. Stories like "The Leak in the Dike" 
by Alice Carey, "The Little Post Boy" by Bayard 
Taylor, "The Thanksgiving Turkey" by Clara and 
Will Vawter, "The Pea Blossom" by Hans Christian 
Andersen, "Luke Varnum" by Burritt, are likewise 
very effective in leading pupils to talk or to write. 
With upper grades, an occasional story hour, or the 
dramatization of some choice tale brings rich language 
returns. 

In using literature for language work, the self-expres- 
sion idea should be kept foremost. The poem or story 
must lead the learner to express himself, not some one 
else, if it is to result in the truest language training. 
Enjoy the selection being used as a stimulus to such 
expression, but make it a means to the end of drawing 
out the learner's own thoughts and experiences. 

The instance cited of the John Burroughs' selection 
shows how this thought applies in the high school. The 
following illustration points its appHcation in the lower 
grades. Suppose the poem being used for language 
purposes is "A Winter Night" by Mary F. Butts. One 
stanza from the poem will suffice for illustration: 



86 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

'*Blow Wind blow, 

Drift the flying snow, 
Send it twirling, whirling overhead. 
There's a bedroom in a tree 

Where snug as snug can be 
The squirrel nests in his cozy bed." 

The picture of this cozy comfort may be enjoyed, the 
music of the lines also; but the stanza should call out 
the children's experiences with squirrels. Where have 
you seen their nests? What other nests of mice or 
rabbits or other animals have you seen? Where were 
they? A stimulus of this sort is most likely to call forth 
a great many interesting experiences. Illustrations to 
demonstrate the proper use of Hterature in language 
work might be multiplied. 

All that has been said of literature applies with equal 
force to the use of art in language teaching. Picture 
studies have been a favorite means of promoting expres- 
sion. But here again two faults prevail: either the 
pictures are out of the realm of child life; or they are 
so used as to be merely picture lessons, nothing more. 
Some language practice comes from the discussion of 
them, but it usually is of the matter of fact sort. 

In a certain school the teacher held up the well known 
picture called *'Can't You Talk?" The little folks 
were asked to give a name for the baby, and one for 
the dog, to tell whether it was summer or winter, whether 
the babe and dog were on the porch or in the house, 
what color the baby's eyes were. So the lesson pro- 
ceeded until a visitor who was observing the lesson was 
asked to speak to the class. Holding up the same 



LEADING THE LEARNER TO EXPRESS HIMSELF 87 

picture, he asked, ^'What is this picture about?*' The 
pupils did not know. It was brought closer to them 
and one bright boy, seeing the sentence beneath it, 
flung his hand up excitedly. 

''It says 'Can't You Talk?' " 

''Who in the picture is saying 'Can't you talk?* " 

"The baby, of course." 

"What does the dog say?" 

"He doesn't say anything. Dogs can't talk." 

"You don't think so. How many of you think dogs 
can talk?" 

No hands came up. 

"Well, as I was going to a house the other day a big 
dog bounded towards me and said sharply, 'Bow wowl' 
What do you think he said? " 

"He said, 'Go 'way!' " said one pupil. 

Immediately there was a waving of hands; the pupils 
were full of experiences to tell how dogs had talked to 
them. 

Pictures that touch closely the leamer^s life may be 
used with good effect in stimulating language expression. 
At one time the writer used for this purpose a "kodak 
snapshot" of some Httle folk who were building a play 
house out of "goods boxes." In a very few moments 
nearly every pupil in that third grade was eager to tell 
of some playhouse he had built. 

The old method of using pictures to stimulate some 
imaginary story usually brought only a weak, mechan- 
ical result. The practice of using classic pictures for 
language work was also generally barren of returns, 
because the work was in every way foreign to the learner. 



88 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

There is great need for a better blending of the art of 
language interest. Some excellent work is being done 
in this direction by bringing into our schools graded 
picture studies. There is still room for much to be 
done to bring the pictures that have a real appeal and 
upHft for youth into the halls of learning; and yet more 
to do in blending art and language work to the advantage 
of both. 

QUESTIONS 

1. What spirit must every teacher possess to lead pupils 
effectively to express themselves? 

2. What main characteristics must the language lesson have 
to bring forth the desired response from the learners? 

3. Tell of some experience of your own wherein you have 
been successful in stimulating a satisfactory discussion from the 
pupils. To what mainly did you ascribe your success? 

4. Show clearly the difference between teaching a selection in 
literature merely as a reading lesson and making that same 
selection serve to stimulate language expression. 

5. How may pictures best be used to stimulate the pupils to 
interesting self-expression? 

EXERCISES 

1. Select some worth while subject close to the life of the 
pupils of any grade. Compose the questions you might use in 
leading the class to talk effectively on the subject. 

2. Write a brief experience of your own which might well be 
used in stimulating a class to fruitful expression on some subject 
of value to them. Try it with a class and be ready to report 
results and discuss them with your associates. 

3. Make a Hst of ten of the most interesting topics you find 
discussed in current magazines and newspapers. What in each 
of these topics appeals strongly to the reader? 



BLENDING ORAL AND WRITTEN WORK 

Oral and written expression sliould be so tauglit as 
constantly to complement and reinforce each other. 
These two phases of language work are one in general 
purpose. The difference between talking with the 
tongue and with the pen lies for the most part in the 
mechanics. The following diagram, showing some of 
the essentials that make for skill in each, indicates the 
closeness of the relationship. 



ORAL 




ENUNCIATION 
PRONUNCIATION 
VOCAL PHRASIN 



/ pRor 

XVOCA 



WRITTEN 



< 



SPELLING 

PENMANSHIP 
PUNCTUATION 




CORRECT USAGE 



SENTENCE 

BTRUCTURf 



PARAGRAPH 

ORGANIZATlOli 



CHOICEOF WORDS 



Well directed practice in speaking promotes efficiency 
in writing. A story well told is half written. Oral 
discussion of the essay to be prepared paves the way 
for a more effective paper. Likewise to write the 
work in outline or in full is to reinforce and clarify 
the oral presentation of it. Both of these kinds of 
expression are necessary to round out the learner^s 
language skill. 

Speech makes for fluency; writing for accuracy. Lord 

89 



go OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

Bacon long ago expressed this point very plainly when 
he said, '' Conversation maketh the ready man; writing 
the exact man." These two qualities in language may 
be gained best by well correlated practice in both oral 
and written work. 

The most effective speakers both speak and write. 
The best writers really speak to unseen audiences. 
"A sentence can never be most effectively written/' says 
one authority in composition, ''unless the author hears 
it as he writes.'' 

These two phases of language should be developed 
together. Teachers too often have thought of them 
apart and have planned their v/ork accordingly. It would 
be far better for both, an economy of time and effort 
as well, to bring them together. This may readily be 
done. 

The path to effective written expression lies through 
the spoken word. The opening lesson in developing a 
composition should generally be an oral exercise. This 
is especially necessary with grade pupils; and it obtains 
even through the high school. Pupils usually need the 
stimulus of discussion to open up the subject, to thresh 
the wheat from the chaff of their thoughts. A well 
directed lesson is a kind of discovery exercise. It helps 
the teacher to find the vein of the child's richest thoughts 
and experiences. It helps the child to discover his own 
best ideas and stories. 

With little folk in the primary grades, there can be 
little else than oral composition. With even the pupils 
of grammar grades and high school, there should be far 
more practice in speaking than is usually afforded. 



BLENDING ORAL AND WRITTEN WORK 91 



The following diagram illustrates what would seem a 
sensible progressive proportion of these two kinds of 
language expression throughout the elementary and 
secondary schools. 




Suggested proportion of oral to written work in each of the 
twelve grades. 



This emphasis on speech is urged because oral language 
is largely the language of life. The ordinary person 
speaks at least a thousand times more than he writes. 
Most of our communication is through the spoken word. 
Most of the language mistakes are of the tongue rather 
than of the fingers. For these and other reasons the 
greater emphasis should be laid on cultivating in the 
pupil skill in oral language. 

This necessary attention to speech need not rob 
written composition of its rightful share of attention. 
It will rather reinforce that work if properly taught. 
Effective teaching neglects neither kind of expression, 
but by bringing both into a reinforcing correlation 
*' makes one hand wash the other.'' 

The following suggestive plan, varied always to meet 
various grades and conditions, indicates how the oral 



92 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

and written may be blended to advantage. Such a 
program may prove helpful especially in the grades from 
the third to the ninth. 

1. Opening oral exercise. This recitation usually 
should be a conversation lesson or an informal discus- 
sion to stimulate interest in the general subject, to help 
each pupil discover his best story or topic and to start 
him on the way to develop it. 

2. Talks on chosen topics. This lesson will vary 
according to the grade and the nature of the subject. 
Primary pupils can scarcely be held to systematic 
preparation of oral work. Their work will be mostly a 
spontaneous expression of thought or the relating of 
experiences. In upper grades, the pupils may be directed 
in gathering materials, and in preparing these for foUow- 
up oral work. In these succeeding recitations they are 
given opportunity to present individually their en- 
riched and better organized thoughts and experiences 
for the benefit of their classmates and for the perfecting 
of their own powers. I 

3. Written exercises. With Kttle children written 
work will be reduced to a minimum. It should almost 
always follow closely the oral work and be done under the 
supervision of the teacher. Composition in all of the 
grades, indeed, would better be done mostly during 
supervised study periods. Even in high school, if 
students were given more tactful direction while working 
their thoughts out "on paper," they would make surer 
and swifter progress. 

4. Corrective exercises. Just what these shall be 
win depend on the needs of the pupils. The oral and 



BLENDING ORAL AND WRITTEN WORK 95 

written work wiU indicate clearly where help is wanted 
in enunciation, spelling, punctuation, grammar, diction, 
or in other phases of language. Several lessons based 
on the pupils' talks and papers may well be planned in 
connection with blended oral and written composition 
exercises just suggested. 

5. Perfecting the work. The aim of aU the foregoing 
should be to bring both oral and written work to a 
resultful conclusion. From the preliminary exercises 
outlined should come the finished productions in speech 
and writing. A strong and natural motive will be 
necessary to keep aHve the enthusiasm necessary to 
make pupils put their best into the work. This may be 
supplied rather readily in various forms. 

Among the practicable ways of stimulating interest in 
both oral and written work, these stand out prominently: 

1. The Story Hour. This has a never failing appeal. 
It may be adapted easily to fit the different grades and 
conditions. For example, there may be *Tairy Story 
Hours,'' *' Wigwam Story Hours," "Spring Time, Fall 
Time, Snow Time, or Summer Time Story Hours." 
The various holidays also may be made the center for 
such work. There may also be " Fireside Story Hours," 
in which local history and stories, historical tales and 
Hterary stories from various story writers may be 
retold. The students may also use the story hour as a 
time to tell original stories. 

2. Dramatic work. The appHcation of this exercise 
is as various as that of story telHng. It lends itself 
readily to all sorts of subjects; historical, geographical, 
literary, and other lines may be inspirited by it. 



94 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

Dramatization has especial value in developing skill 
to speak. It promotes poise and ease and power to 
present thoughts vividly. Dr. R. G. Moulton, of the 
University of Chicago, used frequently to tell his students 
that to be effective as an orator one must have skill 
as an actor. 

Speaking is portraying thoughts and feelings. The 
training for ability to do this should begin early, if 
pupils are finally to be natural and graceful speakers. 

3. Debates. Here is another means of stimulating 
earnest speech effort. Under proper control the debating 
instinct may be turned to excellent account. The 
tendency to debate is especially strong in the grammar 
grade and high school age. Dr. John M. Tyler, speaking 
of the tendency in this period of life, once said, *'The 
boy of the adolescent age would think earth an Eden 
if he could just debate as much as he pleased." 

This tendency may be made a valuable means of 
training m public speech. Attractive opportunities for 
the development and direction of youthful energies may 
be provided in the form of "A Young Citizen's Forum," 
''Nature Clubs," ^'Literary Clubs," "Athletic Clubs," 
and other associations that open the way for motivated 
discussion and social expression. All these, however, 
are special activities. There must be daily practice if 
the work is to be most effectively done. The class itself 
must provide for most regular exercises. 

The democratic recitation offers, after all, the best of 
practice in all forms of oral expression. In it informal 
debates are being constantly conducted. Experiences 
are continually being shared, and practice in public 



BLENDING ORAL AND WRITTEN WORK 95 

speech is being given. Rightly directed, the recitation 
offers the best means for the development of skill in 
speech. The special exercises, however, should be 
employed frequently to renew and to stimulate the 
interest, and to bring language expression up to the 
crest of the pupils' powers of speech. 

In written work also the aim should be to give the 
composition a respectful hearing. Not all written work 
can be read before real audiences, but much more of the 
choice work might be heard both in class and on special 
occasions if a little greater attention were given to the 
service side of such expression. 

Pupils should be trained to write as well as to speak 
for some purpose that seems to them worth while. 
Stories should be written with the thought of giving 
others enjoyment. Plays should be written to be acted. 
Descriptive sketches should be prepared to be read. 
School newspapers should be produced for the real 
purpose of publishing worthy news and editorials of 
interest to the school. The best individual and class 
booklets contaim'ng perfected work of pupils may well 
be preserved by the pupils or by the school. Local 
literary and historical collections may thus be made. 

Letter writing also should represent real work. 
Herein Hes one of the most important of all the phases 
of written composition. It is a phase, however, that 
has been ineffectively dealt with because of the generally 
artificial nature of the exercises. The emphasis has 
been constantly given to the form side of the letter 
instead of to its content. 

Letter writing means much more than merely writing 



96 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

names and addresses. These things are only incidental 
to the main purpose — ^necessary, of course, but sub- 
ordinate in importance to the chief purpose of the 
letter, which is to reach and interest, inform or convince 
the one to whom the letter is directed. A letter that 
fails to carry a real message is a failure. 

The time spent in training pupils to write letters 
should be devoted mainly to helping them "put across" 
the message of the letter. Pupils should be trained to 
write for real readers, to say things of interest to them 
and to write clearly and convincingly. The letter 
writing practice, in brief, should be real and life-like. 

A study needs to be made of the natural letters of 
youth. Most of the models provided by texts and 
teachers are of the grownup style or wholly artificial. 
If real practice is to be given, the letters used for stim- 
ulus and guidance must be closer to the life of the 
learner than those ordinarily given. 

A study of real-life correspondence in the world of 
commerce will also prove helpful. "What sort of 
letters get results?'' is the question that is constantly 
bothering business men. A great waste of time and 
money is made through ineffective correspondence. If 
schools would turn their language training to account, 
they might well divert some of the energies to a study 
and practice of efficiency in both social and business 
correspondence. 

In letter writing as in all other types of composition, 
both oral and written work may well be blended. Time 
was when all letters were written; but to-day, most of 
the business correspondence is dictated either to sten- 



BLENDING ORAL AND WRITTEN WORK 97 

ographers or to dictaphones. Ability to dictate a letter 
well is an art to be cultivated along with the develop- 
ment of ability to write letters. These two forms of 
expression should be developed together, each being a 
necessary complement of the other. 

QUESTIONS 

1 . What elements have oral and written language in common? 
How do they differ? 

2. What proportion of the time for the class period do you 
feel should be given to each of these types of composition? (a) 
In the elementary school? (b) In the junior high school? 

3. How may the oral and the written work be blended? In 
what onepracticalway may wegive more attention to speech train- 
ing in our schools without neglecting the necessary written work? 

4. Tell what effect the proper blending of oral and written 
work has on both these tj^pes of expression. 

5. What is the most important thing in letter writing? How 
may the letter writing practice work be made to achieve real life 
results? 

EXERCISES 

1. Plan a talk on one of the following topics: 
The choicest story I have heard from older folk. 
An exciting experience of my own. 

Tales of travel. 
Stories of industry. 
Give the talk before some real audience at home, in school, or 
elsewhere; then write your sketch or story. 

Discuss with your associates the relative difficulties in creating 
the two types of composition and show how one exercise helps 
the other. 

2. Make a list of the fair criticisms a good business man 
would pass on the letter writing in the grades; in the high 
school. What definite plan may be followed to make that work 
meet more effectively the needs of real life? 



IV 
CORRECTIVE WORK IN LANGUAGE 

To stimulate in the pupil such a desire for choice and 
effective language as makes him strive constantly to use 
it— this is the chief aim of critidsm. 



^ 



THE SPIRIT AND AIMS OF CONSTRUCTIVE 
CRITICISM 

Correction, to bring rich and lasting returns, must 
concern itself with more than marking mechanical 
mistakes in pupils' papers and m giving standard' 
tests. This checking up of errors in speech is neces- 
sary; but the great end of corrective work is to give 
children skill to correct their own mistakes; to estabHsh, 
through well-directed drills, right tongue habits; and 
above all, to inspire in them such a desire for choice, 
clear language as will make them strive constantly to 
use it. 

If the spirit of the "self-starter" can be cultivated in 
the pupil, the problem is largely solved. Abraham 
Lincoln once attributed his mastery of English to the 
fact that even from childhood he would always get 
irritated when anyone talked to him in a way that he 
could not understand. This annoyance caused him 
constantly to keep trying to put his own thoughts so 
clearly that any boy of his acquaintance could get the 
meaning. It became a kind of passion with him to say 
things in choice yet simple language. Out of this effort 
came his crystal clear style. 

Lincoln's method is not unusual. Franklin followed 
a similar plan of self -correction. Robert Louis Steven- 
son in "Memoirs and Portraits," speaking of his own 
self -development, says, "I was always busy on my own 

lOI 



I02 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

private end, which was to learn to write. As I walked, 
my mind was constantly fitting what I saw with appro- 
priate words; when I sat by the roadside, I would 
either read, or a pencil and version book would be in 
my hand, to note down the features of the scene or 
commemorate it in some halting stanzas. Thus I lived 
with words. '^ Every master of our mother tongue has 
been an intelligent self-critic inspired with a desire to 
express himself effectively. 

How to create in pupils some measure of a love for 
effective self-expression is the chief problem. It will 
never be solved by nagging, petty criticism. Criticism 
must be had, but always it should be constructive, 
inspirational of the child's best efforts. Other than this, 
it defeats its own purpose. 

Appreciation or Criticism. Which? With too many 
teachers criticism is merely fault-finding. Critic, in the 
original meaning of the word, meant judge. To criticise 
means to judge fairly. The expression is almost syn- 
onymous with appreciate, which means, in one sense, 
to appraise, to rate at its true value. But what a 
difference in the atmosphere carried by the words 
criticism and appreciation! A change of terms might 
be helpful in bringing the right attitude to our corrective 
work. Instead of criticising the efforts of our pupils, 
why not appreciate them? 

This is no plea for ''soft pedagogy.'' Criticism may 
be just as searching, just as effective when given in the 
spirit of appreciation, as when dealt out in the spirit of 
the taskmaster. The resulting attitude, however, is 
vastly different. Right-spirited criticism leaves the 



SPIRIT AND AIM OF CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM 103 

pupil working not against but with the teacher for the 
betterment of his own work. 

The unskillful gardener, finding a rosebush choked 
with weeds, strikes down both roses and weeds. 
The skillful one, keeping his eye on the flowers, gently 
but thoroughly uproots the weeds and leaves the 
rosebush growing. 

Criticism should always be constructive. An encour- 
aging word in season, a helpful, forward-pointing sug- 
gestion, is far more successful in stimulating self- 
corrective effort in the pupil than a stinging slap or slur 
at the error or weakness in his work. Find the good 
point in the talk or the paper first, even though it takes 
a microscopic examination to do it. ''That sentence is 
weU constructed; let us make the others just as clear." 
''You used a choice word there; try to get others just 
as effective." Some such word of praise justly given, 
faces the pupil towards his own problem, w^iUing to 
work to solve it, eager to overcome his own faults by 
building better. 

Corrective work should also aim not so much at 
curing as at preventing mistakes. This cannot apply of 
course to the faults in speech with which a child may 
enter school, nor to those which he continues to pick 
up on the street and in the home; but there are certain 
bad language habits which are due directly to careless 
teaching. It is the business of teachers to work co- 
operatively to prevent pupils from acquiring such wrong 
habits. 

This point finds especial application in written work. 
Over the beginning of oral language the school has little 



I04 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

control. The first steps in writing, however, are given 
by the teacher. If the child is trained wrongly in 
these, who except the teacher is responsible? 

Write correctly at the first draft, is the target to be 
aimed at. Express yourself freely, say what you feel 
and think, but train yourself to say it accurately, cor- 
rectly, without recopying. This high standard is not 
reached in a single bound, it is true. The beginning 
child will stumble much before he learns finally to walk 
or to run, but this end must be attained before he meas- 
ures up to the practical efi&ciency demanded in the 
speech and in the writing of to-day. And this standard 
should be kept clearly in the minds of all teachers from 
the beginning. 

Not only efficiency but spontaneous efficiency is the 
call of this electric age. Sixty per cent efficiency finds 
no choice places in this strenuously working world. It 
is the man who does his work rightly at the first stroke 
that is in constant demand. 

The point finds many applications in daily uses of 
speech. The business man has no time to dictate his 
letters over again. The stenographer must learn to 
transcribe correctly at the first draft. Recopying is too 
costly a process. The news reporter likewise must 
develop skill to tell his stories effectively without re- 
writing them. The same is true of most of our daily 
speech. In conversation, in public debate, in doing 
business, to be effective one must be ever alert to say 
the right thing well. There is no time for studied ex- 
pression. The spoken word cannot be recalled. 

Our school exercises in English, to be most helpful, 



SPIRIT AND AIM OF CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM 105 

must therefore provide abundant practice which trains 
children to express themselves freely, yet with precision. 
Much extemporaneous speaking on familiar and inter- 
esting subjects, many informal debates, frequent writing 
of letters within a given time limit, reporting news, 
story telling, and various other exercises aiming to 
develop fluency with accuracy should be given con- 
stantly. 

In all of his writing, the pupil should be trained to 
work while he works. The common notion that poets 
and other literary geniuses allow their minds to wander 
aimlessly when they write is false. The best results 
come only when they work with attention focused and 
soul afire with feeling. 

The Star-Spangled Banner was born in the midst 
of battle smoke. Lead, Kindly Lights A Man^s a 
Man for A^ That, Patrick Henry's Appeal to Arms, 
Lincoln's Getty shurg Speech, and hundreds of other 
gems that continue to thrill us almost leaped into being. 
This is not to say that these or any other masterpieces 
were produced without preparation. Quite the contrary : 
they were the result of years, perhaps, of accumulated 
thought and feeling and practice in expression. But 
when the right moment came, they were cast into 
fitting form quickly, while the soul was aglow. 

The application of all this to corrective work is clear. 
Children working rapidly under the impulse of thought 
and feeling, produce better compositions than when they 
are allowed to dwaddle over the exercise. Not only is 
their work more ahve, but it is generally freer from 
mechanical mistakes. 



io6 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

One of many instances that might be cited in proof 
comes from the following demonstration lesson con- 
ducted in a certain sixth grade: 

'^What is the most exciting experience you have ever 
had?'' was the opening question asked by the teacher. 

It proved to be a *' fetching question/' for the pupils 
were suddenly set alert and thinking. 

"Have you ever seen a fire, a runaway, or have you 
had a scare of some kind?" 

Several hands were raised. 

Henry was given a chance to speak. 

" I was pretty badly excited last week watching that 
explosion out by the Warm Springs." 

''What happened?" 

"Well, us kids were climbing the hills above the Warm 
Springs when aU of a sudden we saw a lot of people 
running away from the car tracks. Then we noticed a 
smoke coming out of one of the box cars. Then there 
was a big puff of black smoke and a few seconds later we 
heard the worst boom. It was a car of powder that 
exploded." 

"Was any one hurt? " 

" I don't think so; but the car was blown to pieces and 
a big hole was torn in the ground." 

Other hands were waving now. 

"Very well, John, what is your story?" 

Another boy arose and told in rather vivid style how 
he had watched the great fire that swept away half a 
mining camp. 

A girl named Virginia next gave a fairly clear picture 
of the burning of their neighbor's house. 



SPIRIT AND AIM OF CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM107 

One after another the pupils arose, eager to add 
other exciting experiences. Most of them, because of 
the opening stories, naturally turned to fires they had 
seen. 

Finally the teacher said, "You surely have had some 
interesting experiences to relate, but I cannot Usten 
longer now to your stories. I am going to let you tell 
them in another way. Will you please write them for 
me during the study period?" 

With this request he left the room, and the pupils 
began their written exercise. Some time later the 
results were gathered. The following is Virginia's story 
as it was first written: 

AN EXCITING FIRE 

"We were eating lunch when we saw the people running 
down the street dragging hoses, we went to see what was the 
matter. At the end of the block there was two houses a fire 
and a third one starting. The wind was blowing and that 
made it worse. 

"At one house they were letting furniture out of the win- 
dow. The firemen shouting and scrambling for hoses the 
people out on the sidewalk added to the excitement. 

"Finally they got it all out, but the loss was $5,000 on 
the houses." 

This paper is typical of the results in general. They 
all had about the same matter-of-fact cast. 

What should be done with them? How would you 
proceed to get better results in composition? What 
first step would you take in correcting such a set of 
papers? 



io8 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

This teacher, after reading the papers carefully, took 
the class again the next day, 

^^Did you see the fire you were telling me about in 
this paper, Henry? " was his opening question, 

**0h, yes. I was right there." 

"I know; but did you see it while you were writing 
about it yesterday? '* 

The boy shook his head negatively. 

"Now tell me, Henry, what were you really thinking 
about when you were preparing this lesson?" 

"Well, I was thinking 'bout getting it ready for 
you." 

"I thought so. And you, Virginia, did you really 
see that fire? Did you hear the calls, and see the fire 
department dashing up the street? Did you watch the 
smoke pouring out of the building while you were 
writing, I mean?" 

"Not very clearly," responded the girl. 

"WeU, I think that none of you saw very clearly the 
picture you were trying to make some one else see, did 
you? I am sure you can do much better than you did 
if you will just see and feel the excitement while you 
write. Wouldn't you like to try again right now?" 

There was an afiirmative response. 

"I shall not pass back these papers, but shall let 
each of you have a new sheet. For the next fifteen 
minutes, I want you to make me see that fire or other 
excitement you experienced." 

With this stimulation, the class leaped eagerly into 
the exercise. Twenty minutes later, the results were 
passed in. Here is Virginia's second story: 



SPIRI T AND AIM OF CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISMiop 

A BAD BLAZE 

"We were eating lunch when somebody cried, "Fire!" 
Everyone jumped up and dashed out of the door. At the 
end of the block was a house encircled in flames. 

''The fire department came dashing down the road, the 
people were running here and there. There was confusion 
everywhere. The firemen quickly climbed the ladders to ex- 
tinguish the rapidly gaining flames. The flames were hard 
to get under control because of the great heat. 

"They were tumbling furniture out of the windows. The 
house next door had started and had gained a headway. 
They heard shrieks of a child who was in the upstairs. They 
thought it was impossible to save it but one very brave man 
tried and succeeded. He got the child just as the floor fell. 
He finally got to the porch where the rest of the firemen were. 

"It was useless to try any more to save the house so they 
let it burn to the ground." 

What is the essential difference between the two 
stories? 

Simply one great thing — ^life. The second tale is 
thrilled with reality, vividness, movement which comes 
because the child re-lived the experience while she wrote 
it. In all composition work no practical suggestion is 
of more importance than this: Think, see, feel, picture 
the thing while writing or speaking. And this should be 
the great guiding thought both in speech and in writing. 

In telling their exciting experiences, the pupils were 
first permitted to take all the time they wished. In 
re-writing the compositions they were given about 
fiifteen minutes. The papers produced in leisurely 
fashion revealed an indifferent, matter-of-fact spirit; 
those written when the pupils were keyed up to the 



no OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

effort were full of life. But more than this, and vital 
to our present point, the second set of papers contained 
fewer errors. For example, 68 mistakes in spelling 
were found in the first set, 53 in the second — this despite 
the fact that the second compositions contained fully 
thirty per cent more words than did the first. The 
second set of papers likewise had fewer mistakes in 
grammar and punctuation, fewer faults in sentence 
structure, while the diction was markedly more effec- 
tive. 

Carelessness accounts for a large percentage of the 
mistakes in language. Teachers usually take good care 
of the pupils during the recitation; but during study 
periods, when pupils are left largely to themselves, the 
good work of the class is frequently cancelled through 
carelessness. 

If during supervised study periods half the time now 
given to correcting needless mistakes were devoted to 
preventing them, the results would be far more satis- 
factory, and right language habits would be formed from 
the beginning. 

A shift of emphasis too should be made from general 
class criticism to giving attention to individual needs. 
Too much educational ammunition is wasted in taking 
"flock shots" at language faults that may or may not 
be common. Correction to be more effective, must be 
aimed at each pupil, with the end constantly in view to 
cultivate in him the desire and the ability to correct 
himself. 

The responsibility for keeping his oral or written work 
free from errors should gradually be shifted to the 



SPIRIT AND AIM OF CONSTRUCTIVE CRFTICISM 1 1 1 

pupil's shoulders. A rule of language, once clearly- 
taught and reasonably fixed by drill, belongs thereafter 
to him; and he should be held to its application, not by 
repeating and re-directing, but by a firm refusal on the 
part of the teacher to accept careless work. 

The following plan, suggested by a successful Enghsh 
teacher, offers one practical way to get results. He says; 

''When a pupil hands in a paper, ask him, *Has it 
any mistakes in spelling? ^ 

" ' I don't know,' is the usual reply. 

Then you may keep your paper until to-morrow and 
tell me.' 

"This may seem harsh treatment to the pupil at first; 
but he soon comes to enjoy the spirit of independence 
it creates in him." 

In a similar way the pupil may be trained to keep 
his composition free from errors in punctuation, para- 
graphing, and sentence structure, to be accurate in his 
choice of words, and to overcome his faults in enimcia- 
tion and pronunciation. Such placing of responsibility 
i^rill certainly make for intelligent self-criticism. With 
these more tangible mistakes cleared away by the pupil, 
time may be had to attend to the larger, more vital 
phases of composition. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Why does constructive criticism bring the best results? 

2. Show by giving practical illustrations from letters, papers 
and notebooks how carelessness accounts for a large proportion 
of the mistakes in language. 

3. What method have you found most successful to stimulate 
the spirit of self-correction in pupils? 



112 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

4. Give some illustration other than those given to show the 
demand for spontaneous efl5ciency in speech and in writing in 
every day life. 

5. What kinds of improved practice might the school give to 
develop ability in pupils to speak and to write fluently yet 
accurately. 

6. What caused the marked improvement in the second of 
the compositions given in the illustrative exercises? 

EXERCISES 

1. Have a round table discussion of this problem: Under 
what conditions have the choicest poems, speeches, and scenes in 
stories and plays been produced? Be ready to share in the dis- 
cussion by giving an instance from the life of some writer. 

2. Ask some successful speaker, reporter, editor, or business 
correspondent for practical suggestions on how to use language 
effectively. Make a summary of the best points gathered by 
yourself and your associates. 



CULTIVATING SKILL IN SPEECH 

After the child has been led to talk on some subject 
of first-hand interest, what then? How can he best be 
helped to express himself effectively? What corrective 
guidance can the teacher give in training him to speak 
not only with ease but with accuracy? 

Shall the pupil be corrected while he is speaking? 
That depends on two things — the nature of the child 
and the nature of the mistake. Some children take 
correction with Kttle disturbance of their flow of thought; 
others are greatly embarrassed by it. Each pupil should 
be dealt with, not by any set rule, but according to the 
needs of his nature. Every child, however, should be 
trained not to be supersensitive over interruptions but 
to accept helpful criticism gracefully, and through it 
learn to be watchful of his own speech. 

Many errors, such as the misuse of a grammatical 
form, mispronunciation, or the mischoice of a word, can 
be readily corrected in passing. If, for illustration, the 
pupil says, *^ We was going," the teacher may easily sHp 
in the right form, "We were going;'' or ask, "What 
did you say?" — and the pupil, correcting the fault, will 
usually continue without losing the thread of his story. 
But if correction of the error involves a change in 
sentence structure, as in the "and habit,'' the inter- 
ruption may result disastrously. 

At one time in preparing a group of practice teachers 

113 



114 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

for their training work, it was suggested that each make 
an effort to overcome the prevalent use of the needless 
''and" by the pupils. On opening the door of the prac- 
tice room the next day, the supervisor overheard the 
teacher making this curt correction : *' There, you said it 
again/' 

A boy, as was soon discovered, was trying to tell 
about an experience which he and his father had had 
out on an Indian reservation. Despite this rebuff, the 
pupil attempted to go on with his story, but before the 
next sentence was finished, he said, "and then we" — 

''Can't you use another word besides 'and'? " abruptly 
asked the teacher. 

The lad's face flushed but he bravely proceeded to finish 
telling the incident when the vexatious "and " came again. 

"How many times do I have to tell you not to use 
that word?" 

As a result of this cutting reproof the boy sat down. 
In spite of all the teacher could do he would not say 
another word. 

This cruelly un tactful treatment was due, of course, 
to the immaturity of the teacher; but it shows plainly 
a kind of criticism which is worse than futile. Children 
are constantly being thrown into a state of blundering 
self-consciousness, and are having confidence essential to 
their ease of speech destroyed by some tyro of a critic 
alert to catch and hold up to ridicule their mistakes. 
It is trying enough under the most favorable conditions 
to speak before an audience without being subjected to 
the fear of nagging criticism. There are surely better 
ways to traiji the child to speak correctly. 



CULTIVATING SKILL IN SPEECH 115 

The following experience of a parent with a Live four- 
year-old son is suggestive: 

''Once when I was taking my boy to Chicago," 
says this man, "the lad, filled with interest in the 
new scenes, was naturally very expressive. Listening 
to his enthusiastic outbursts, I suddenly discovered 
in his speech a great many faulty expressions. Among 
the most distressful of the faults was the ''aint" 
habit. 

"'Oh, aint that a big windmill!' *Aint that a big 
herd of hogs!' *Aint that a big river!' 

"I determined to clear aw^ay that error forthwith. 
Each time the child would say 'aint', I said 'isn't', 
and had him repeat the right form. He took the cor- 
rection with no open objection at first; but I noticed 
that he gradually grew less talkative under the strain. 
Finally he sat silent for awhile ; but suddenly something 
interesting flashed by. 

" 'Oh, aint that a' — 'Isn't!' I checked him. 

"The Httle fellow turned with protest and pleading 
mingled in his voice, and said, 'Papa, I'U say "isn't" 
when we get to Chicago.' 

" 'All right, laddie,' the father responded, kissing the 
troubled little brow; 'just say what you Kke. I'll not 
annoy you any more over this silly mistake now; we'll 
get rid of it later.' " 

Teachers should not grow impatient for immediate 
results from their corrective work. The supplanting of 
wrong with right habits of speech is not the work of a day 
nor of a week. Some mistakes may be cleared away 
quickly, others are provokingly tenacious. They seem 



ii6 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

to be like the proverbial cat; they may be killed in every 
one of the eight grades, and still have a ninth life to 
go on through high school or even college. 

These persistent trouble-makers should be discovered 
and defeated. What they are may be rather readily 
determined through speech surveys. Certainly among 
them will be discovered the *'and'^ habit. 

Overcoming the "and" habit is a language duty that 
should be faced squarely. This fault of speech is as 
common as dandeHons; and about as hard to eradicate. 
But has any well directed, concerted effort been made to 
uproot it? Is the seriousness of the fault appreciated? 
Is the cause of it understood? It would seem not. 

The "and" habit is the first step up from baby 
language. Infants begin by using words; as mamma, 
papa. After a while they may say, "Mamma, come," 
"Papa, come," and finally they reach the stage where 
these two thoughts are brought together. "Mamma 
come and papa come." Many children, it would seem, 
never develop greatly beyond this habit of coordination. 
Certainly they do not generally seem to feel what it 
means to subordinate one thought to another, or we 
should not hear so frequently such oral work as this 
typical story shows: 

^AN UNEXPECTED BATH 

"We were going to the field and we had to cross a big creek, and it 
was too wide to jump and too deep to wade. My sister saw a loose pole 
on a nearby fence and we got it and made a bridge and then we tried 
to walk across. She went first and got over safely but I got in the 
middle and lost my head, I guess, and I tumbled in, and oh, what a 
sight I was as I scrambled up the muddy bank. And she just sat there 
laughing. But it was no joke." 



CULTIVATING SKILL IN SPEECH 117 

What is the cure for such a "run on" sentence 
structure? The cure is in the cause. Children must 
be trained not only in their writing but in their speech 
properly to subordinate the less important parts of the 
sentence. We prate a good deal about subordinate 
clauses. We drill children to give the names of them — 
time, place, manner, degree, reason, cause, condition, 
concession, and so on ad infinitum; but are they trained 
to feel what subordination really means? Is the habit 
of using the subordinate element rightly fixed in their 
daily speech? Are they taught how to sHp into their 
sentences the graceful participial phrase, the appositive, 
or the subordinate clause to give finish and force to 
their language? 

Only very rarely is such teaching to be found. Most 
of the time is taken up in teaching facts about speech 
instead of in training the pupil to speak effectively. 

How shall such a composition as the one just given 
be corrected? The pupil should be trained to weigh his 
thoughts more carefully. Instead of being permitted to 
ramble on carelessly, the pupil should be given tactful 
help in building sentences that are clear and graceful. 

For illustration: "We were going down to the field 
and we had to cross a big creek, and it was too wide to 
jump and too deep to wade.'' 

Reconstruct this sentence and prevent this over-use 
of "and." How many sentences should be made of it? 
Two. Very well. What is the main thought in the 
first sentence? What is the less important thought? 
Construct the sentence so as to make the hearer see 
these things according to their relative importance. 



ii8 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

By such questioning as this, pupils will soon recast 
the composition with results somewhat similar to the 
following: 

AN UNEXPECTED BATH 
"On our way to the field we had to cross a big creek. It 
was too wide to jump and too deep to wade. My sister, seeing a 
loose pole on a nearby fence, got it and made a bridge. Then 
we tried to walk across. She managed to get over safely; but 
when I reached the middle, I seemed to lose my head; for I 
tumbled in. Oh, what a sight I was as I scrambled up the 
muddy bank! She sat there laughing; but it was no joke to me." 

Such correction is comparatively easy in written work. 
The difficulty, however, is in training the child not to 
over-use or misuse "and^' in speaking. After a confi- 
dential relationship has been brought about between 
pupils and teacher, and a cooperative spirit towards 
criticism has been created, the pupils may occasionally 
be stopped in the midst of their story, and helped to 
reconstruct the faulty oral sentence with a view to 
eliminating the unnecessary "ands.'^ This with drills 
to reinforce the correction and careful attention to 
sentence structure in all their writing, will help greatly 
to overcome the fault. 

Lack of proper organization is another vital defect in 
common speech. Ordinary talk is usually choppy, 
oral stories are often rambling, and spoken explanations 
frequently seem to be without center or circumference. 
Thoughts expressed through speech are not often devel- 
oped from point to point with precision. 

This serious fault might largely be prevented through 
more careful lesson assignments. Instead of flinging 
before the class hurriedly, during the final moment of a 



CULTIVATING SKILL IN SPEECH 119 

recitation, some vague general directions, teachers 
should take time to open up the subject, to give some 
suggestive guide lines, to help pupils individually to 
find their way through their themes. 

Suppose, for illustration, the subject chosen is, *'How 
Common Things are Made or Produced." Each pupil 
should be led to make a choice of some special topic 
under this general heading. Thus one may select 
''How Cheese is Made." Another may take "The 
Canning of Tomatoes." Still another may deal with 
"The Story of a Copper Coin," "How Salt is Refined," 
"Hay Making," or with any other similar topic that 
has for him first-hand interest. 

Following this, each pupil should be started "thinking 
through his subject." A few suggestive questions to 
face him towards his problem should be given; as. 
What is the first thing to be told about hay-making? 
What next should be explained? What is the third step 
in the process? With some such lead as this, the pupil 
begins to make a mental survey of his composition 
materials, and better organization is assured. 

Pupils should be trained from the first to speak with- 
out the hindering help of notes. They may be allowed, 
of course, to jot down points to be made, or to make an 
outhne, but these should be laid aside in speaking. The 
outline at best is but a crutch; and usually, if leaned on, 
it tends to make the speech halting and lame. Rather 
should the speaker get his points in his head and hold 
them there while he is speaking. Ability to talk with- 
out notes, to speak directly to the audience, is one of 
the prime elements of success in speech. 



I20 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

Mental exercises in language are demanded to-day 
even more than drills in mental arithmetic. To culti- 
vate skill that makes pupils spontaneously efficient in 
speech, we must give them frequent practice in blocking 
out their subjects orally, in building effective oral 
paragraphs, and in developing point by point familiar 
stories, descriptions, and explanations before classes and 
other real audiences. Such training persisted in through 
the grades and the early years of high school would not 
only clarify and systematize the oral work of our schools, 
but it would give to us a great many more convincing 
public speakers. 

QUESTIONS 

1. What advice based on your experience in conducting classes 
have you to give about correcting pupils while they are talking? 

2. What mistakes common to childhood seem to correct 
themselves in time? Which seem to need correction from outside 
sources? Name five of each kind. 

3. Give one or more practical suggestions for overcoming the 
"and" habit. 

4. What are the most common speech faults you notice? 

5. How can pupils be best helped to keep their thoughts to 
the point? 

EXERCISES 

1. Choose some interesting incident out of your own experi- 
ences that can be briefly told; or select a short story of about the 
length of a fable, which you have read in the papers or magazines 
recently. Tell the story to your associates. Let each in turn 
tell stories. How may one improve in skill to tell a story? 

2. Develop in the form of a two minute talk some thought 
you feel strongly about. Try to make one point clearly. Your 
associates should do likewise. Then let a general discussion be 
held on how to improve one's speech. 



TRAINING THE TONGUE 

The best way to break up a bad habit is to fix a 
good one. In turning a stream from its wild, native 
channel out to the thirsty desert, the irrigationist first 
digs a new channel, then puts in a dam. To change the 
course of a child's language into proper channels, the 
teacher must follow a similar plan. 

Not head-teaching but tongue-training is the first 
essential. To fill the mind with inhibitive cautions and 
rules of speech, is like throwing a dam across the stream : 
it may check the waters, but it does not permanently 
turn them. Neither does mere correction change the 
learner's expression, unless it is followed by persistent 
drill to make sure that the proper form will leap unfail- 
ingly to the pupil's lips whenever he tries to express 
himself. 

This tongue-training should be given frequently as a 
part of the language lesson, and as long as the needs of 
the class call for it. It should be given also to each 
pupil when his individual faults in speech make special 
attention necessary. All of this work, indeed, to be 
effective, must reach the individual in such a way as to 
carry over into his daily speech and stimulate in him 
such corrective self -effort as makes him strive constantly 
to cultivate proper speech habits. 

A certain successful lecturer was once asked how he 
had acquired his remarkable accuracy of speech. 

121 



122 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

'*By private practice/' he replied. ^*My teachers 
taught me rules; I made it my pride to apply them. 
Whenever my attention was called to an error in my 
language, I began at once to get rid of it. 

"At one time, for example, I was corrected by a 
teacher for using like wrongly in such a sentence as, 
*I did it like he did.' Thereafter, whenever I caught 
myself making the mistake, I would give my ear and 
my tongue a training by repeating again and again the 
right form: *I did it as he did, I did it as he did, I did 
it as he did ' until the mistake was conquered. Thus one 
by one I overcame my language faults by drilling on cor- 
rect usage till I made the right form a matter of habit." 

The sooner such practice can be given the better. 
Tongue-training exercises belong primarily to the 
elementary school age. This is the natural drill period, 
because the child's language is then stiU plastic; and 
what errors he may have picked up are less firmly set 
than later. 

Correct usage should be regarded largely as "the 
multiplication table of language." If as much energy 
and zeal were given to mastering the forms that trouble 
the tongue as is now generally devoted to learning this 
arithmetical table, most pupils would conquer ninety 
per cent of the type errors of speech before they left the 
sixth grade. 

But just how can this desirable result be achieved? 
[ First find the mistakes. Next create popular senti- 
ment in favor of correct speech; and finally drill, drill, 
drill on right forms until proper use is made second 
nature v/ith the pupils. 



TRAINING THE TONGUE 123 

A good beginning in this work of displacing wrong 
habits with right ones is to be found in a survey of the 
English of the community. Such a survey was recently 
taken in a city of 10,000 inhabitants by following this 
plan: For two weeks each teacher observed carefully 
and quietly the speech she heard, jotting down the 
errors made in violation of the rules of grammar and 
marking the number of times each mistake was made. 
At the end of the given period, the mistakes were handed 
in, and each principal tabulated the results for his 
school; these in turn were summarized by the superin- 
tendent. The final report revealed this interesting fact: 

More than fifty per cent of the errors overheard were 
made on twenty type forms, listed in order of the 
relative frequency of their occurrence as follows : 

Have got; seen for saw; can for may; "aint" for isn't; ate 
and "et" for eaten; John he and similar redundancies; don't for 
doesn't; done for did; them for those; it's me, him, her; can't 
get none and other double negatives; set, lay, and raise for sit, 
lie and rise; was for were; that there, this here; hadn't ought; 
who for whom; good for well; will for shall; in for into; Mary 
and me, her, him (used as subject). 

Other "trouble-makers" less frequently heard v/ere: 

Took for taken; bit for bitten; write for written; forgot for for- 
gotten; "knowed" for known; "throwed" for thrown; showed for 
shown; "drawed" for drawn; rung, sung, begun, run for rang, 
sang, began, and ran; come for came; went for gone; what for 
that; like for as and as if; kind of a for kind of; "his'n," "our'n," 
"your'n," "their'n," and a few other miscellaneous mistakes. 

No pretense is made that this was a scientifically 
accurate investigation. It is presented here only as one 



124 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

practical way by which any school may discover common 
mistakes in the speech of its pupils or in that of the 
community — an essential first step in beginning any 
campaign of correction. 

Such a survey has a double value. It sets the bound- 
ary lines of the field for work; and it arouses a commu- 
nity spirit that makes for better speech. Only through 
cooperative effort intelKgently directed can the common 
faults in language be overcome. Corrective work in the 
past has largely failed because of lack of proper team work, 
and because it has not been based on the results of first 
hand investigation of language needs of the community. 

Nor should these surveys be limited to grammar. 
They may well be extended to cover other more or less 
tangible phases of speech; as, sentence structure, diction, 
pronunciation and enunciation. Sentence structure and 
diction are given due consideration in chapters vi and vii; 
but pronunciation and enunciation rightly deserve em- 
phatic attention here in connection with tongue training. 

Careless articulation of words is a national fault in 
America. The hurry habits of this nervous, electric- 
minded age account largely for the fault; but whatever 
the cause a cure is demanded. 

The importance of this point was emphasized recently 
in a letter from one of our army officers. Replying to 
the question, "Why do so many of our boys who take 
training for positions in the United States Army fail? " 
Lieutenant Blaynley, an instructor in one of the reserve 
training camps, summed up the reasons in one word, 
"slouchiness." This ''slouchiness'^ was manifested not 
only in dress and bearing but in habits of thought and 



TRAINING THE TONGUE 125 

study, and particularly in speech. Directing attention 
to this last named fault, the Lieutenant says: 

"A great number of men have failed because of 
inability to articulate clearly. A man who cannot 
impart his ideas to his command in clear, distinct 
language, and with sufficient volume of voice to be 
heard reasonably far is not qualified to give commands 
upon which human Hves depend. Many men disquali- 
fied by this handicap might have become officers under 
their country's flag had they been properly trained in 
school and college. It is to be hoped therefore that 
more emphasis will be placed upon the basic principles 
of elocution in the training of our youth. Even without 
prescribed training in elocution a great improvement 
could be wrought by the instructors in our schools and 
colleges, regardless of the subject, insisting that all 
answers be given in a loud, clear, well rounded voice, 
which, of course, necessitates the opening of the mouth 
and free movement of the Hps. It is remarkable how 
many excellent men suffer from this handicap, and how 
difficult and almost impossible it is to correct this after 
the formative years of Hfe.'* 

Nothing is more disastrous to the sense of speech 
than inarticulate utterance. Because of faulty enun- 
ciation, a good deal of the meaning of pubHc addresses and 
private conversation must be guessed at or lost. The 
rapid-fire talk of too many people becomes a mere 
jumble of sounds. Shakespeare voiced his impatience 
with slovenly speech, and gave a sound bit of advice 
when he had Hamlet say to the players: 

"Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to 



126 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

you, trippingly on the tongue; but if you mouth it, as 
many of our players do, I had as lief the town crier 
spoke my lines." 

This pertinent suggestion should be made a motto 
for every class in every schoolroom. In aU of their 
recitations, pupils should be trained to ^' speak the 
speech trippingly;'' that is, to enunciate their sounds 
distinctly, and to pronounce the words properly when 
reciting. Moreover, they should not be permitted to 
mouth their answers but should be trained to speak in 
clear, carrying tones. A Httle firmness and persistence 
on the part of every teacher, reinforced by a good 
example, would go far towards correcting the common 
'^slouchiness" in speech. 

The faults that call for special corrective attention 
should be determined by a survey of the common errors 
in enunciation and pronunciation. It is more than 
likely that among them will be found the following 
trouble-makers: jist, kin, git, fer, wuz, bekuz, uv, 
und, ur, frum. These and other commonly used Httle 
words make most of the difficulty. Because of the fre- 
quency of their occurrence in sentences they give a 
slovenly cast to speech unless they are properly pro- 
nounced. It is, therefore, of first importance that 
children be trained to pronounce properly just, can, 
get, for, was, because, of, and, or, from, and other like 
mischief-makers. 

Tongue laziness in this and other matters of articu- 
lation should be overcome. The too common tendency 
to follow the fines of least resistance accounts for most 
of the inaccuracy in our spoken language. Because of 



TRAINING THE TONGUE 127 

this slackness, difficult sounds are slighted or dodged 
and words are often left unfinished. As a result we 
hear 'em, for them, thinkin*, for thinking, haf to for have 
to, mebbe for may be, sperical for spherical, catarr for 
guitar, 'rithmetic, histry, jography, swep, wep, kep, 
slep, and a great many other carelessly enunciated 
words. They are permitted to fasten themselves on 
the speech because of lack of attention to them on the 
part of the teachers. 

Another distressful habit is the vocalizing of pauses 
in speech with inarticulate sounds. The result is 
well-u, why-u, und, ur, u. Greater freedom of expres- 
sion is the best general cure for these *' halting habits." 
Positive practice in composing sentences freely to express 
familiar thoughts, wiU be helpful in cultivating fluency. 
Preparation that makes the child sure of what he wishes 
to say will also tend to make the pupil speak smoothly. 
Such training should begin early and continue until ease 
and grace of speech is acquired. 

Oral practice should be given to every child every day 
if practically possible. Nothing that comes from his 
school work can bring richer daily returns in his life 
than the training that cultivates in him the habits of 
standing properly, speaking clearly, and articulating his 
words with ease and accuracy. Such habits are an 
unf ailing passport in the world of business and culture. 

QUESTIONS 

1. What is the fundamental principle to be followed in over- 
coming faults in speech and in fixing right habits? 

2. In what grades should the fixing of right habits of speech 
be given most attention? Why? 



128 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

3. How can the time of pupil and teacher best be economized 
in dealing with mistakes in speech? 

4. What are the most valuable things to come from speech 
surveys? Suggest a practical way of making these surveys in 
every school. How may pupils and patrons be interested in the 
movement? 

5. What do you understand to be a "type error"? Illustrate 
five type mistakes made in violation of the rules of grammar. 

EXERCISES 

1. For one week listen carefully to the language of a group of 
pupils. Jot down the errors they make in violation of rules of 
grammar. Mark the number of times each mistake occurs. Join 
with the members of your class, who will make like investigations, 
and compare results. What are the ten chief trouble-makers? 

2. Make a similar survey of the enunciation habits with a 
view to discovering what soimds are giving most trouble? What 
bad habits of speech need to be overcome? How will you proceed 
to work against them? 

3. Make similar lists of errors you hear made by clerks, 
telephone operators, ministers, lawyers, doctors, club women, 
and others in public work. Compare this list with the list of 
school errors. Find what value the best business and professional 
workers attach to correct speech. 



CORRECTING WRITTEN WORK 

Ability to write fluently and accurately comes only 
through persistent, well guided practice. How to pro- 
vide enough of such practice in our schools, without over- 
loading the teacher with papers to correct, is a bafl&ing 
problem. The conscientious teacher, attempting to give 
critical attention to all of the written work that piles up in 
the daily exercises, makes a slave of herself. The careless 
one, slighting this duty, makes slovens of her pupils. 

What is the sensible thing to do? How much written 
work should be laid upon the child? By what methods 
can this correcting of compositions be most quickly yet 
effectively done? These are the practical problems to 
be faced in this discussion. Their solution calls, first 
of all, for a reduction of the written work ordinarily 
required by the teacher. In the first and second grades, 
because of the mechanical difficulties, there should be 
little if any. In the third, fourth, fifth and sixth grades, 
where the beginning of written expression should be 
rightly made, no more compositions should be called for 
than can be carefully corrected by the teacher. In the 
grammar grades and high school, it would be much 
better for both pupil and teacher if the written work 
usually required were reduced one half. 

This would be done if all of the purposeless composi- 
tion exercises now assigned were eliminated. There 

129 



I30 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

is too much aimless pen activity in our schools. To 
keep school children out of mischief, many teachers 
set their pupils copying lessons, filling notebooks, 
writing pointless compositions, and reproducing long 
stories. 

As a result of this lazy kind of "busy work," a smother- 
ing load of written work is piled up for the teacher to 
correct. She cannot possibly do it. The work is 
neglected and the pupils acquire habits of carelessness 
they are Kkely never to outgrow. Besides this they 
often learn to hate written work in all of its forms. 

Such an abuse of one of our most important means of 
expression is inexcusable. There is httle value in writing 
simply to kill time. Written preparation is justified 
only when it is done under the impulse of a real motive, 
when it leads to some worth while end for the child. 
It should not be imposed on the pupil unless it 
helps to clarify thought or to develop efficiency of 
expression. 

Another line of least resistance is followed by too 
many teachers when they turn their composition drudg- 
ery over to others. Sometimes the papers are shuffled 
and handed back to the class to correct. In high 
schools and colleges, assistants are often employed to do 
this menial task. This is an easy way to dodge the 
difficulty, but far from a satisfactory one. 

Pupil help may of course be used in marking mistakes 
made in drill exercises. Applied to spelling, punctua- 
tion, and dictation work generally, it can be turned to 
good account; but when it comes to trusting the criticism 
of compositions entirely to these amateur proxies, grave 



CORRECTING WRITTEN WORK 131 

objections arise. The value of such help to the teacher 
is most Hkely to be more than cancelled by the ill effect 
upon the pupil. It tends to develop in him the spirit 
of petty fault finding; since, for the most part, his 
corrective work amounts merely to the picking out of a 
few mechanical mistakes. 

More serious still, the teacher and pupil by this 
process are thrown out of close personal touch. The 
pupil, keen to feel this lack of individual attention, 
slackens in his own interest and care. The teacher 
without first-hand knowledge of the pupil's language 
needs, fails to make the class work most helpful. His 
criticisms do not strike home. They can scarcely be 
constructively helpful. 

How shall time be found to give personal attention to 
the pupil's written work without overtaxing the teacher? 

The following practical suggestions are offered as a 
partial solution of the problem: 

1. Reduce the classes to a number consistent with 
the demand for efficient teaching. 

2. Cut down the written work, as already suggested, 
by eliminating all aimless writing. 

3. Correlate much more closely oral and written 
expression. 

4. Lessen class criticism; increase individual super- 
vision. 

5. Occasionally test the papers by having the pupils 
read them before the class. 

6. In correcting compositions, give emphatic atten- 
tion to one type fault at a time. 

Regarding the first suggestion, only this need be said 



132 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

here. As long as school boards and patrons impose 
thirty, forty, fifty, sixty or even more pupils on one 
teacher, they need not expect the most efficient help 
to be given to each child. Teaching under such con- 
ditions becomes Httle else than herding or entertaining 
boys and girls. Common sense should correct this 
difficulty some time. It is false economy both educa- 
tionally and financially. 

Enough has already been said against imposing aim- 
less composition work on defenseless children merely to 
keep them busy. Reason also should rule here. 

The close correlation between oral and written lan- 
guage has also been pointed out; but the appHcation 
should be made clearer. Skill to speak carries some 
degree of power to write. Ability to write effectively 
likewise makes for effectiveness in speech. It is only 
in their outward forms that these two modes of expres- 
sion are essentially different. Even in the outward 
forms there is a reciprocal relationship. Distinct enun- 
ciation, for example, is essential in learning to spell 
correctly; while proper voicing of the sentence helps 
greatly in the punctuating of it. 

Many of the common errors in writing might be 
obviated if pupils were given more opportunity to 
thresh out their thoughts orally beforehand. Discussion 
flails the chaff from our ideas. It stimulates thinking 
and goes far towards shaping sentences in which the 
thought may best be cast. Talking over the subject in 
class or in conversation among themselves gives excel- 
lent help to young writers. 

Pupils should be taught to listen mentally to their 



CORRECTING WRITTEN WORK 133 

sentences while penning them. "How does it sound?" 
is a good guide line in constructing both oral and written 
composition. Reading the paper aloud is also a valuable 
help in clearing away its crudities. Pupils should be 
trained to put their work to this test before passing it 
on to the teacher for final correction. 

Testing the written work by ear, by having compo- 
sitions read occasionally before the class, is another time- 
saving method. It is surprising how many faults can 
thus be detected. Lack of proper spirit, clumsy sen- 
tence structure, faulty diction, may be quite as readily 
heard as seen; mistakes even in punctuation and spelling 
may ofttimes be caught by ear. Besides this, when a 
pupil knows that his work is to be given an open test 
by a real audience, he is very likely to put forth his 
best effort to keep his composition free from blunders. 

Yet despite all of these preventive measures, there 
will still be faults to overcome. The teacher, to guide 
rightly each pupil and to direct intelHgently the work of 
the class, must frequently examine sets of papers and 
notebooks. How can this work be done without undue 
loss of time, and with best returns to the pupil? 

Deal with one type fault at a time, is a good general 
rule to follow in correcting papers. Teachers, too often 
rightly anxious to clear the paper of all of its errors 
without delay, get lost in a maze of mistakes and fail to 
make any one point in their criticism stand out with 
impressive clearness. Other errors need not be lost 
sight of nor go unchecked, but if one mistake at a time 
receives emphatic attention, the progress in overcoming 
language errors will be more definite and rapid. 



134 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

There are not many of these fundamental faults in 
composition. The following seem to be the principal 
sources of trouble: 

SENTENCE STRUCTURE FAULTS 

1. Failure to make complete sentences. 

2. Misplacing of modifiers. 

3. Misty use of personal pronouns. 

4. Lack of proper subordination, especially illus- 
trated by the ^'and'^ habit. 

5. Use of too many words. 

WORD FORMS 

6. Inaccuracy in the choice of words. 

7. Incorrect use of grammatical forms. 

MECHANICS 

8. Carelessness in penmanship, punctuation, and 
spelling. 

ORGANIZATION 

9. Lack of close-knit paragraphs. 
10. Rambling structure. 

These type faults, except in spelling and punctuation, 
apply aHke to oral and written work. 

ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS 

The method of dealing with one fundamental fault at 
a time is illustrated in the treatment of the following 
lessons taken directly from schoolroom practice: 

Two pupils of a certain fourth grade were recently 
led to talk, then to write, of their winter fun. The 
teacher, examining the results, discovered that the 



CORRECTING WRITTEN WORK 135 

children seemed most to need help in making sentences. 
Their compositions usually consisted of one or two long 
sentences filled with "ands.'^ Nearly every child gave 
evidence that sentence sense needed cultivating. 

This main need discovered, the correction was focused 
on it. As each composition was read, some illustration 
of the fault was copied from it on a sheet of paper. If 
the composition happened to contain some well built 
sentences, these were copied as worthy examples. 

The following is a part of the sentence collection that 
was gathered by the teacher for use in reinforcing the 
lesson the next day: 

FAULTY SENTENCES 

1. Each side gets a bunch of snowballs and then one side says 
fire and they all began to throw. 

2. Once me and another boy made a snow fort and we got a 
bunch of boys on one side and a bunch of boys on the other and 
we made a bunch of snowballs. Then we put a flag on each of 
our forts then we started to throw at each other we knocked down 
one of the flags and ran and got it. 

3. I like to watch my brother shovel off the snow, he makes 
a slide and pulls me a block or two and dumps me off and soaks 
my face with snow, and then pulls me home again. 

4. We went in a big sled and as we were going up the hill we 
did not know it was so steep and we went a flying off tumbHng 
down heels over head one right after another, and when we got 
up we thought it would be lots of fun to build a snowman and 
when we built it we all sat on top of him and we went down on 
the ground. 

WELL CONSTRUCTED SENTENCES 

Once we built a snow fort. That was lots of fun for us but it 
took a long while to build it. We had an American flag. One 
boy got his eye soaked. He could not battle any more. All were 



136 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

watching closely. The battle lasted for about twenty-five 
minutes. Was that not a fight? 

In an eighth grade class, the oral discussion had 
centered on thrift stamps. 

After talking about the various ways by which boys 
and girls might make and save money, the pupils were 
given opportunity to write on the subject. 

SENTENCE STRUCTURE 

A jumbUng of their sentence structure was the principal 
fault discovered in their papers. Most of the pupils 
showed a need for training in saying one thing at a time 
and in saying it clearly. In correcting the papers, a score 
of sentences illustrating both wrong and right structure 
were selected. The following are a few of the faulty 
sentences : 

1. One way in which I can save is to do without luxuries 
such as gum, candy, popcorn and many other articles such as 
saving paper, food and clothes. 

2. Boys could save by carrying papers and shovehng off side- 
walks for people could save by putting a nickel away every time 
they wanted something like candy going to shows. 

3. Another way is instead of going to picture shows or bu)dng 
candy or gum that we could buy a twenty-five cents thrift stamp 
with that money goes to the government to clothe the soldiers. 

These illustrate better sentence structure: 

1. You can also save by not putting both butter and jam on 
your bread. 

2. In writing a letter or a composition do not use three sheets 
of paper when you can get along with one. 

3. Instead of going to the show so much, put your money 
away and try to make the evening enjoyable at home. 

4. A good way to save for the government is to shine your 



CORRECTING WRITTEN WORK 137 

own shoes and put the cost of the shine in your pocket, to be 
added to until you can buy a thrift stamp. 

The following also illustrates a fine -'sentence sense" 
throughout: 

*'l am accustomed to going to a show every Saturday night. 
I usually ride on the car both ways, costing me ten cents. It 
costs eleven cents to get into the show. When I come out of the 
show I have nine cents. I spend the odd four cents then ride 
home on the street car. When I have gotten off the car I have 
spent twenty-five cents. I am not going to the show every week, 
but I am going to take the money saved and buy one thrift stamp 
every week." 

With such a collection in hand, taken directly from the 
work of the pupils, the teacher can easily make a prac- 
tical, straight-to-the-mark lesson. The sentences, clip- 
ped apart, may be passed to the pupils to be re- copied 
quickly on the board; and there, spread before the class, 
is the material for a vitalized, socialized lesson in sentence 
building. The faults in the sentences should be cleared 
away by the pupils. The essential principles involved in 
the making of clear sentences should be discussed. 

Similar lessons based on the pupils* own work may 
readily be made in punctuation, spelling, paragraph 
building, diction, and various other fundamental phases 
of composition work. 

Spelling. For further example, in the fourth grade 
papers just described, the following words were found 
misspelled; 

steal build pieces 

sliding stayed skating 

coasting break cold 

stimibled rough sled 



glad 


brother 


enjoy 


fought 


ever 


children 


started 


fine 



138 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

The class was then asked to learn how to spell these 
words correctly and how to use them properly. A dic- 
tation lesson followed to follow up the assignment. 

It is well, especially in the lower grades, to keep in 
a notebook the words misspelled by the class. Oc- 
casionally the spelling lesson may be given from such a 
book. SpelKng should be more closely correlated with 
written composition work and vocabulary building than 
is commonly done in our schools. It is only as the child 
writes that he needs to spell. The day will probably 
come when all of the spelling will be connected with 
written expression. Meanwhile some good beginnings 
may be made, as just illustrated, by making vitalized 
spelling lessons from troublesome lists of words found 
in pupils' notebooks and papers. 

Grammar. In another set of compositions taken from 
the sixth grade the following mistakes made in violation 
of the rules of grammar were found: 

There was as many rocks. A horse that was broke. 

Me and my uncle was going. He laid still. 

He fell in the water. We come to a river. 

Me and a couple of boys. I seen a garden snake. 

I couldn't swim good. A few girls and myself. 

My friend jumped in the water. We set down for a while. 

The brook connects to the river. We throwed stones at it. 

We set down. I ran in the house. 

These were made the basis of a lesson in correct usage. 
The sentences were corrected, the violated rules re- 
viewed, and drills to fix right habits in speech were 
given. 

Choice of Words. Following are some sentences 



CORRECTING WRITTEN WORK 139 

taken from this same set of sixth grade compositions 
showing a mischoice of words: 

He fixed my Knes. We caught a lot of fish. 

I heard the fish line shake. We began to get busy. 

I caught a large sum of polljrwogs. Believe me, it tasted good. 

We went to a lovely pond. We found a couple of rocks and 
He pumped me out on the bicycle. pegged at the snake. 

A vocabulary building lesson, wherein the pupils were 
given a chance to discuss the proper meaning of the 
words misused and to find the fitting words, was given 
in connection with this exercise. 

PUNCTUATION 

Vitalized lessons in punctuation may likewise be 
developed from the pupils' own papers. The following 
sentences, for example, were selected from fifth grade 
compositions. They gave a good basis for a live lesson 
in the proper use of quotation marks. 

We puUed the reins and called out whoa but he wouldn't stop. 

He said, "I thought I told you to keep off him," I said he 
didn't buck. 

Then I said BeHeve me I'll never go into the pasture where the 
big steer is with my red sweater on. 

And the baby woke up and my aunt said that if I would 
take care of her she would give me a quarter. 

I asked them what they were doing. 

"Shooting birds," was the reply. 

"You must not shoot birds," I said. 

This last illustration, by the way, is the only example 
the author found in about one hundred fifth grade papers 
wherein the pupil had used quotation marks both cor- 
rectly and intelligently. 



I40 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

The following sentences were used as a basis for a 
vitalized lesson in the proper use of the period. They 
were taken from the same set of fifth grade papers. 

While I was there. The little boy got sick, I called the nabor 
lady and she help me until his mother came home. 

I was six years old when I got up town I forgot what I was 
sent after and had to go back and she wrote it on a piece of paper. 

The way I earned my first money was catching muskrats I 
got 10 c apiece I cot five and three possoms. and I got an air rifle. 

I earned my first money by going after the milk for a lady 
across the street from us she gave me about 50 cents a week I 
went about three blocks after the milk. 

With close to life examples such as these to reinforce 
the rules, the lessons are far more Hkely to be applied 
than when the teaching is merely formal. Only through 
the help of such vitalized exercises, indeed, can skill to 
use the pen be developed. 

QUESTIONS 

1. What is the chief problem to be faced by the teacher in 
providing proper practice in written composition? 

2. What bad results come from crowding too much written 
composition on children in the lower grades? Where and how 
should this work be begun? 

3. How may the composition drudgery be reduced in the 
upper grades without reducing the amount of real practice? 

4. What is the best help that oral composition has to offer 
to the written work? 

5. Suggest one way of substituting other seat work for copying 
or writing lessons. 

6. What five types of "follow up" lessons may be prepared 
while correcting a set of papers? 

EXERCISES 
1. Have a round table discussion of the ten type faults given 



CORRECTING WRITTEN WORK 141 

on page 134. Which of these have given you most difficulty 
personally? In class? 

2. Take a set of papers gathered from any class from the fourth 
grade up; deal with them according to the plan suggested. Pre- 
pare from the papers, exercises in (l). Sentence Building; (2). 
Grammar; (3). Spelling; (4). Punctuation; (5). Vocabulary work. 

3. Make a collection of twenty errors in language found on 
public sign boards, in advertisements, or in newspaper stories. 
Have a group of pupils collect ten errors from the same sources 
and work with you in correcting the errors. Do the pupils show 
more or less interest in this work than in perfunctory exercises? 
Do they learn more by such effort than when following set lessons? 



V 

MEASURING RESULTS IN COMPOSITION 

Progress is predicated on the proper measuring of 
results. How to evaluate quickly yet surely the returns 
in oral and written composition is our present problem. 



143 



FACING THE ISSUE 

How to measure the language ability of pupils quickly 
yet surely, is a puzzling problem. Speech must be 
judged, of course, while it is being spoken. Written 
work too must be dealt with expeditiously, as teachers 
cannot give much time to appraising compositions. Yet 
this work of measuring efficiency in both speech and 
writing must be well done if substantial progress is to be 
made. By what practicable plan can it be done with 
speed and accuracy? 

A good deal of time and scholarly effort has been given 
to the solution of the problem. Certain educators, 
reaHzing the crying need of teachers for definite help and 
guidance in testing language work, have devised various 
measuring scales. The effort has brought forth much good 
fruit; but the scales thus far evolved have not proved 
entirely satisfactory in practice. Even those who have 
been most active in this work are not ready to pronounce 
the results perfect. One of the men who had much to do 
with developing one of the most noted of these scales 
recently said, '*We made a painstaking effort to solve 
the problem, and we produced a scale that looks promis- 
ing on paper; but I must confess that it has proved rather 
disappointing in practical use even in my own school 
system.'^ 

Two main reasons account for any failure on the part 
of composition scales to measure up to all that may 

145 



146 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

have been hoped from them. In the first place, they are 
only in the experimental stage. Their best friends are 
frank to say that they need further proving and im- 
proving. In the second place, the scale is too often 
misunderstood and misused by teachers, being fre- 
quently put to purposes for which it was never intended. 
Speaking to this point, Doctor Courtis recently said: 
''A carpenter who attempts to drive nails with a saw 
or to cut boards with a hammer is not hkely to be im- 
pressed with the value of either of these tools." The 
scale is not intended as a means of giving daily marks. 
It has value ''in determining the efficiency of different 
methods of teaching." 

This central purpose of the measuring scale is clearly 
suggested by Doctor Hillegas, one of the pioneers in 
their making, in this statement: ''Proper standards 
would make it possible to compare with certainty the 
work done in one school or system of schools with that 
done elsewhere. They would make it impossible for mere 
opinion to control so much of our schoolroom practice." 

Doctor Trabue also recently made this helpful ex- 
planation: "T/jg scale is not a teaching instrument; it 
is a measuring instrument. It is not to be used every 
day nor every week; but rather should it be used only 
once or twice a year, or as special occasion may require 
to check up results." 

The scale bears about the same relation to the writing 
of compositions as a bushel basket bears to the raising 
of corn or potatoes. Some stimulus may come, it is 
true, from a composition scale to both teacher and 
pupil to do better work, that could hardly come to the 



FACING THE ISSUE 147 

farmer from a bushel basket; but essentially the devices 
are alike in their central purpose to measure results. 

If this conception of the scale is kept clearly in mind 
much of the controversy now arising from a misapplica- 
tion of this measuring device would be cleared away. 
Any remaining difficulty can be removed only by per- 
fecting the scales themselves. That they are by no 
means perfect, is clearly indicated in this remark from 
Doctor Courtis, made of one of the scales now being most 
wddely used: *'It is," said he, ''a crude instrument at 
best." Yet his advice and the advice of other leaders 
is for teachers to use the scale until something better 
is developed. This would seem the fair and sensible 
thing to do. 

The language teacher should be familiar with such 
excellent contributions to the field of measurement 
in language and composition, as the Hillegas Scale^ 
the Trabue Completion Tests in Language, the 
Harvard-Newton Scale, the Nassau County (N. Y.) 
Scale, the Willing Scale, and all other worthy 
attempts to formulate scientific standards of objective 
measurement. 

That the perfect scale has not yet been devised is 
nothing to the discredit of the pioneers in the movement. 
They have at least blazed a good trail. Columbus did 
not reach India, the goal of his dreams, but he did open 
the way to America. Those who have led in the stand- 
ardization movement have likewise opened a new world 
in education. Our work is to follow their leading with 
further exploration and conquest. 

The perfecting of a scheme for measuring language 



148 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

work is a challenge to our powers. We face in this work 
a thicket of troubles. Any composition, oral or written, 
is a complicated form of expression. In its construction, 
grammatical forms, sentence structure, diction, punctua- 
tion, spelling, enunciation, and other speech elements 
all play their various parts. Any one of these phases of 
the work, taken by itself, gives trouble enough to test. 
What then may be said of the difficulties one faces in 
measuring the composition as a whole? 

No composition is exactly like any other. If it is a 
true expression of thought and feehng — and it must be 
such to be really worth while — it will reflect a spirit and 
style of its own. The vitality of any composition lies 
largely in its individuality. How can these individual 
quahties that give life to language expression be evalu- 
ated by any general set standards? 

If such standards are evolved, can they be applied 
with success to both oral and written work? Thus far the 
attempt to make measuring scales has been directed main- 
ly towards the grading of written compositions. There is 
even a greater need for some help in measuring oral work. 

These various difficulties connected with our problem 
seem to make it so baffling as to make a satisfactory 
solution of it impossible. But to face difficulties squarely 
is the first step towards overcoming them. Some 
natural trail may yet be found through this thicket of 
troubles, which can finally be made into a plain path for 
teachers to follow in promoting the language progress of 
their pupils. If measuring scales are to become a main 
traveled road to success in composition, they must 
certainly be made plain and direct. 



FACING THE ISSUE 149 

The scale, like a road, is but a means to an end. If 
the means is too difficult to follow, the end is not reached. 
And this seems to be the principal fault with the scales 
already developed for measuring the composition as a 
whole. The chief complaint lodged against measuring 
scales by teachers and others who have tried 
faithfully to follow these devices is that they are too 
complicated. 

This complexity arises from three main causes: 
I. Closeness of the steps of the scale; 2. Indefiniteness 
in the qualities that give each specimen its place therein; 
3. Variety of subjects represented in the various com- 
positions. Attempts have been made towards over- 
coming these difficulties, but as yet no scale has been 
evolved that is at once simply graded, well- focused, 
and made up of a standard type of compositions such 
as might be readily produced in grade or high school 
classes working under normal conditions. Until some 
such device is developed, the composition measuring 
scale will not be entirely satisfactory. 

The first step necessary to simplify the scale is a 
reduction of the number of gradations. And why 
should not this step be taken? What practical purpose 
is served by a scale of ten or even six steps that 
could not be as well or better served by one of five 
at most? 

The second step towards simplifying the scale should 
be to focus the instrument more clearly. A certain hazi- 
ness akin to that which marks a photograph taken by an 
unfocused camera, marks the scales already evolved. 
The composite judgment which determined the choice 



I50 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

of the specimens that make the scales lacked, it would 
seem, a clear common aim. A better general understand- 
ing among the scale-makers as to the essential qualities 
of a good composition and the relative values thereof 
would do much to give sharper definition to the result. 

Regarding the third point: The multiplicity of sub- 
jects represented in some of the scales is most disconcert- 
ing to those who attempt to apply the instrument. It is 
so unlike the ordinary classroom product as to baffle 
most teachers. Why should not the scale be made up 
of compositions on one general subject of common 
interest? Why should there be such a jumbKng together 
of the work of different grades? 

The scales dealing with specific phases of composition 
work have proved more successful than those dealing 
with the composition as a whole. It was far easier to 
make a well-focused scale in such things as spelling, 
penmanship, punctuation, and other more or less tangi- 
ble phases of language. It was easier, too, to use such 
a scale in the schoolroom. For that reason, these me- 
chanical phases of language are now receiving a lion's 
share of the attention throughout the country to the 
neglect of the more vital elements. 

This is far from the result desired by the promoters 
of the standardization movement. With them the scale 
was to be not an end in itself but a means to an end. 
By this means they hoped to free our schools from the 
formalism that has enslaved them. Their desire was to 
eliminate these non-essentials and to put scientific sanity 
into our examinations. Despite the misuse of the meas- 
uring devices, great service has been already performed 



FACING THE ISSUE 151 

through this new movement to place education on a 
sound basis. We still need, however, to be guarded 
against the formalism which is threatening to steal into 
our schools again under a new guise. 

The essential thing is to keep our values right. The 
mechanics of composition must be held in their proper 
relationship to the larger object of the thought. A true 
test of ability to spell is not merely learning spelling Hsts. 
Many a pupil has passed such tests with flattering 
marks, and yet proved constantly by his notebooks 
and compositions that he had really never learned to 
spell. The only worth while test for speUing is: Does 
the pupil spell correctly when he is expressing his own 
thoughts? The same test applies to punctuation, to 
penmanship, and to all other special phases of language 
work. We must, therefore, develop some practicable 
plan of testing these things in connection with the com- 
position as a whole. 

This is not to discourage drill tests in any special line 
of work. It is simply to insist that accuracy in spelling, 
punctuation, penmanship, and other special language 
elements be proved also in their right relationship to the 
complete composition. 

What is needed is some measuring scale that puts 
these different elements in proper order. Some scheme 
must be devised to place the emphasis where it belongs, 
on the life-side of language; yet not to the neglect of the 
form-side. The two phases are not separable. The form 
and the spirit of our language expression are as body and 
soul. But certainly the soul of the composition, oral or 
written, is of first importance. 



152 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 



QUESTIONS 

1. What is the main practical purpose to be served by a 
measuring scale in penmanship, spelling, arithmetic, reading, or 
composition? 

2. Point out some of the problems to be faced in making a 
scale to measure oral and written composition. 

3. Why have the composition measuring scales thus far 
devised not proved satisfactory as working scales for the ordinary 
teacher? 

4. What must be guarded against in using specialized scales 
that deal with the more mechanical phases of language work, as 
penmanship, spelling, and punctuation? 

5. Show why the giving of undue attention to the formal 
phases of any subject is not only pedagogically wrong, but 
not in harmony with the purposes of the standardization 
movement. 

EXERCISES 

1. Discuss the hit-and-miss methods conunonly followed in 
measuring the oral and written work of pupils. 

2. How might a good working scale give guidance to the 
teacher and promote progress? 

3. Describe one of the most noted of the composition scales 
so far produced. Measure a group of pupils* compositions by it. 

4. Report the results. Get reports of use of these scales in 
actual practice. See "The Value of Measurements," a discussion 
of Composition Measuring Scales, in the English Journal, 
April, 1919. 



COMPOSITIONS WORTH MEASURING 

The chief trouble lies here: Criticism has been 
directed almost wholly towards perfecting the form 
side of language without due attention to its spirit. A 
misspelled word or a misplaced comma has often been the 
cause of great excitement in the classroom; while lack 
of life or clearness, or faulty organization, might be 
passed over without comment. This is "straining at a 
gnat and swallowing a camel." 

In these days of standardization, the danger also is 
great that this emphasis will continue to be misplaced 
on such measurable phases of composition as spelling, 
punctuation, grammar, and penmanship to the neglect 
of the Ufe-giving elements. 

These mechanics of speech and writing ought rather 
to be given secondary consideration. The reader is 
warned to leap to no wrong conclusions on this point. 
This is not to urge that less care be given to the form side 
of language. Correct forms are essential in all our 
speech and writing. Good com cannot be grown without 
good husks; but corn is not grown for the husks. The 
market value of the produce is measured mainly in 
terms of com. Likewise in composition it is not the 
outward form, but the inward spirit, the life element, that 
counts most. 

Has the speaker or writer a message? Does it ring 
true? Is it clearly, convincingly given? These are the 

^53 



154 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

principal tests to apply to oral and written composition. 
If it fails to measure up to these first standards, of what 
use are the pretty penmanship, the correct spelling, 
the artistic enunciation? 

"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels 
and have not charity,'^ says the Apostle Paul, "I am be- 
come as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal." To 
paraphrase very freely these famous lines: Though the 
speaker or writer use the most perfect forms of speech 
and be barren of thought or lacking in sincerity, his 
words must fall spiritless. On the other hand, to quote 
a bit of Mr. Dooley's Irish philosophy pertinent to the 
point: "When a man has something to say, and don't 
know how to say it, he generally says it pretty well.'' 

The effect of our failure to appreciate the life-giving 
elements in our language work is strikingly shown in 
the announcement of an editor in one of our leading 
magazines: 

"Last summer we offered a chance to the thousands of 
college students in this country to submit short stories 
for possible publication. We offered $150 for every story 
deemed worthy of publication, and additional bonuses 
of $100, $75 and $50 for the three best stories accepted. 

"It is with regret that we have to state that among the 
800 stories submitted we could not find one of sufficient 
interest to warrant publication. The stories were read 
by three people, and the final decision of not one ac- 
ceptable story was reached after weeks of careful de- 
Hberation. 

"These college students wrote well enough. Some 
of them had an unusually good style; but probably on 



COMPOSITIONS WORTH MEASURING 155 

account of their youth and inexperience, they did not 
seem to know life. When they tried to write about 
things on which they had no personal experience, the 
result was insincere. 

"To sum up, they knew how to write, but they had 
nothing to write about. This was a fundamental defect 
in ninety-nine out of one hundred of the stories sub- 
mitted." 

Admitting all that may be said on the other side, as to 
the fallibility of judges, and the artificiality of prize- 
giving as a stimulus to expression, this is still a serious 
indictment of our schools against their teaching of 
English. 

In the analysis of the causes of failure, two things 
worth our attention stand out: 1. It is futile to try to 
express thoughts we do not think and feelings we do not 
feel ; 2. To pass the efficiency tests of real life, our speech 
and writing must reveal something more than an empty 
style. Unless something worth while is said and said 
well, the world has no time to listen. 

To train boys and girls to express themselves effect- 
ively, the schools must do something besides sham work. 
Formal exercises in language must be subordinated to the 
expression of living thought and feeling springing out 
of real experiences with life and prompted by a service 
motive. 

The teacher's first duty in helping children to cultivate 
skill in the use of language is to help them to discover 
their own thoughts and experiences worth telling, and 
to provide lif e-Hke opportunities to tell them. Corrective 
suggestions and drills on the mechanics of speech should 



156 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

be based on this expression, as it reveals need for such 
correction and drilL 

There should be no encouragement in our schools for 
counterfeit compositions, oral or written. The tragedy 
of our language work lies right here. Most of the com- 
positions required from pupils are scarcely worth measur- 
ing. They do not reflect child thought and feeling at all. 
They are reproductive, imitative of grown-up ideas and 
style. They are artificially false to the inner spirit of 
true expression. They sound forced and unnatural. 

The effort should be to get genuine expression. 
Expression of this kind springs from within, not from 
without. It comes only when the pupil speaks or writes 
under the impulse of a real- life purpose, when, as said be- 
fore, he feels impelled, not compelled, to express himself. 

To the credit of the scales so far produced it 
must be said that they have done a great deal to 
stimulate a wider and closer study of the language re- 
sults in our schools. This, perhaps, is the best return 
that has come from the attempts thus far made to 
measure compositions. 

There is still need for more careful observation of the 
living expression, oral and written, of children. Teach- 
ers should learn to discriminate between false and true 
results in composition work. To train the pupil to 
speak and to write effectively, they must encourage 
only genuine self-expression. 

QUESTIONS 

1. What is the chief point to be kept in mind in measuring 
compositions, oral or written? 



COMPOSITIONS WORTH MEASURING 157 

2. What is the test that is being constantly applied in real 
life in judging the merits of speech and writing? Prove your 
point. 

3. Wherein lies the chief cause of the failure of our schools to 
prepare pupils to produce compositions that measure up to the 
demands of life? Give illustrations. 

4. On what kind of compositions must measuring scales be 
based if they are to be worth while in promoting progress in 
expression? 

EXERCISES 

1. Choose two compositions from the grades, the high school, 
or the college — one of the formal or counterfeit type, the other 
showing genuine self-expression. With your associates, who will 
make like selections, prepare a statement of the marks or evidences 
of sincerity in the compositions. 

2. Write a brief paper — a paragraph or a 1)010 — expressing 
some thought or sentiment, or sketching some scene. Make the 
brief expression above all else genuine. Read the composition 
to your associates in class, who in turn will read theirs. Discuss 
the results with a view to helping one another. 

3. How can teachers by working for genuine expression, 
serve their coimtry through the utterances of the press and the 
public forum? What are some of the evidences of insincerity 
you have noticed in current papers, magazines, speeches and 
books? 



THE TARGET TEST 

A working plan for promoting success in composi- 
tion work is badly needed. If the scale *'is not a teach- 
ing but a measuring instrument/' then some good 
* teaching instrument" should be provided to help 
teachers get compositions worth measuring. 

By what method can the teacher best test her daily 
work? How can the pupil's oral and written expression 
be rated quickly and surely at its true value? How can 
the real needs of the learner be discovered? By what 
device can the various qualities of the composition be 
properly appraised? What is the central test by which 
efficiency in speech and in writing can be measured? 

This chief objective is to be found in the life-purposes 
of language. Men speak and write, as already said, to 
stir others to think, to feel, to act with them. If they 
accomplish this result, they have used speech effectively. 
To the extent that they fail to reach and to hold the 
attention of others, or to stir in them the desired re- 
sponse, their speech has failed. 

The work must go farther than merely finding fail- 
ures. As faulty work is discovered, constructive help 
must be given to overcome the faults. If the compo- 
sition fails to give real-life service, the reasons for the 
failure must be sought out and the remedy applied. 
What are the elements of success in speech? Three 
essentials stand out clearly: 1. VitaKty, 2. Clearness, 

159 



i6o OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

3. Correctness. A speech must have life, or it cannot 
reach and hold the listener. It must be clear, or we 
cannot understand the message. It must be correct, or 
it will fail to carry over most effectively. 

Suppose the appHcation of the test has brought out 
that the language is lacking in any of these essential 
qualities. What then? The next step is to find definitely 
the source of the trouble. Criticism to be constructive 
must show in a tangible way the fault and point to the 
correction. 

What are the tangible evidences of lifelessness in a 
composition, oral or written? First of all, a rambhng 
use of words and sentences. Language that is thoroughly 
alive moves with steady, business-like steps towards its 
object. It wastes no words. Life is also shown in com- 
position by the convincing quahty of its sentences. 
Word vividness is another evidence of vitahty. 

Clearness is reflected by organization. Does the 
writer or speaker move from point to point with 
sureness? Can his talk on paper be outlined easily? 
Next, are his sentences constructed clearly? And 
finally, does he choose his words with exactness? 

Correctness has to do, as is well known, with the 
proper choice of grammatical forms, with spelling, or if 
the expression be oral, with enunciation. It concerns 
itself with punctuation also ; and it should give attention 
in speech to the vocal phrasing. 

All of these points are graphically presented in the 
following test, which is offered here simply for discussion 
and experiment. 

One point in this test deserves emphatic attention. 



THE TARGET TEST 



i6i 



The life-giving qualities stand first in determining the 
value of language work. 

Vitality in a composition is to be tested in two ways: 
1. Has the speaker or writer chosen a theme that 
touches the quick of interest in his audience? 2. Does 




he deal with the subject in such a way as to make it 
vibrant? The attention-holding, action-impelling qual- 
ities of language lie in these two life elements. 

The interests of humam'ty are constantly on the firing 
line of thought and action. Speakers and writers must 



i62 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

be alert to catch the things of culrrent interest, or to find 
the permanent interest life lines, and connect their mes- 
sages with them. This explains the keenness of the re- 
porter to follow the lead of the developing news — to 
anticipate it, if he can. The successful business man, too, 
is always trying to find the interests of his prospective 
customers. The poet that voices the heart of the 
people, must touch the chords of thought and feeling 
that are attuned to the fives of people in the living 
present. The world is ever moving; the interests of 
human kind have always a forward look. 

Pupils should be trained to find the vital themes. 
Their efforts in composition need to be directed more to 
selecting the subjects that are alive and full of interest 
for others to whom they are to talk. How else can 
their work be worth while? Unless one can make a 
living thought contribution, has one a right to take 
other people's time? If these tests were applied, there 
would be far less time wasted on empty speech in the 
schoolroom. The abifity to find the theme that vibrates, 
needs cultivating. 

Skill to present the theme as something alive likewise 
needs developing. It takes effort to keep out of the 
language ruts; but it pays to do so. Thoughts tritely 
expressed generally fall on deaf ears. Of what use is it, 
therefore, to spend time using words if those words 
fail to reach and stir others to right thinking and right 
action? Having found a five subject, the learner should 
strive to make it five in the minds and hearts of his 
hearers. This is the prime test of success in composition. 

Clearness likewise is absolutely essential. This 



THE TARGET TEST 163 

should go without saying; unfortunately it does not. 
Much of spoken and written language, as already clearly 
shown, lacks this necessary quality. There is constant 
need in all classes to train pupils to make their points 
not only so that they may be understood but so that 
they must be understood. Clearness of expression 
makes for the development of clearness and sanity in 
thinking. 

Correctness must not be slighted simply because it 
is subordinated. A high standard in the mechanics 
must be held firmly before the pupils. Accuracy here 
is essential. At the same time the form side of language 
should not be allowed to crowd the more important 
phases of the work out of the way, nor should skill in 
the mechanics be rated so highly as to cause pupils to 
be content if they get only within this outward ring of 
the target. 

Another point should be given attention. Correct- 
ness should concern itself with more than correct 
usage and spelling mistakes. Artistic enunciation, 
accuracy in the choice of words, and precision in punctu- 
ation may be just as essential to success as correct 
spelling and correct usage. A just and right balance 
in all of these necessary phases of language work is the 
thing most to be desired. This achieved, most of the 
controversy over relative values would cease. The 
thing needed is efficiency. All of the elements sug- 
gested in ''the target test" are essential. 

Our business is to train pupils to measure up to the 
real-Hfe test. To recapitulate, this means: 1. They 
shall be trained to deal with vital themes in a way that 



1 64 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

keeps them alive. 2. They should be trained to say 
things clearly. 3. Their tongues and fingers should 
also be trained to use the right forms of language with 
sureness and skill. 

QUESTIONS 

1. What is the chief objective — "the bull's-eye" — ^in the 
target, to be aimed at in all speech and writing? 

2. Name in order of their relative value the three essentials 
necessary to make the composition strike the center of the target, 
and give reasons for the order in which you place these essentials. 

3. In what two senses must a composition be vital? Illus- 
trate. 

4. Show by giving examples from papers gathered in the 
grades, high school, or college, why a study of clearness is so 
essential to success in language expression. 

5. What is the main thing necessary to make sure that com- 
position work will be kept free from mechanical errors? 

EXERCISES 

1. Prepare to participate in a round table discussion of 
"The Target Test" by making selections of three compositions 
that pass the test successfully. Choose these papers from the 
grades, from the high school, or from college. Be prepared 
to point out the qualities in each paper that make for its 
excellence in each of the things named under (a) vitality, (b) 
clearness, (c) correctness. 

2. Compare a group of ordinary formal compositions with 
human-interest stories in the newspapers or magazines. Find 
from any good editor the reasons why he is unwilling to publish 
the compositions. How does he measure or test them? 



A PRACTICAL DEMONSTRATION 

How will such a plan of appraising compositions as 
that suggested under ^'The Target Test" work out in 
actual practice? A concrete answer to that question 
can be found in the following report of a siurvey of 
composition work. 

A study of language teaching has been made in the 
various states of the Union. Practically all types of 
schools have been visited, and from many of these 
schools compositions have been taken. 

One of the experiments made was carried on imder 
approximately the same class conditions in ten different 
states. The sixth grade was chosen as a typical grade 
for the experiment, and a composition lesson was con- 
ducted in this grade in each of the schools of the states 
visited. The general subject selected was ^'Exciting 
Out-door Experiences." 

The pupils, stimulated by questions and by personal 
experiences, were first led to talk freely. Usually they 
gave incidents connected with fishing, camping, riding 
horses, boating, hunting, trapping, and other similar 
activities. Most of the pupils had something worth 
telling and they were generally eager to express them- 
selves. 

When the interest in the subject was at its height, 
the work was changed from oral to written expression. 
The class was given an encouraging opportunity to 

165 



i66 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

write their stories. No time limit was set. The pupils 
were kept as far as possible unhurried and unworried. 
It usually took them from fifteen to twenty minutes to 
produce the compositions. The papers, in uncorrected 
form, were gathered as fast as they were produced. 
The pupils did not even reread them. 
Several interesting features stand out in the results: 

1. There was no essential difference in the experi- 
ences of the pupils. Even in cities of over a million 
inhabitants, the pupils revealed a wealth of incidents 
showing first-hand experiences with nature and a love 
for out-of-door hfe quite as keen as that found in the 
children of the country. 

2. Approximately the same percentage of highest 
grade pupils and of lowest grade pupils were found in 
all of the classes. 

Out of a total of 369 papers, 35, or approximately 
9%, were of A grade; 39, or about 11%, were of E 
grade; while 305, or about 80%, belonged to the 
medium, or B-C-D groups. 

3. The typical mistakes in sentence structure, 
diction, grammar, and spelling were essentially the 
same. The form side of the work is indicated by the 
following synopsis: 

Mistakes to the number of 702 were found in spelling, 
or about two in each paper, while only 226 errors were 
made in violation of the rules of grammar. Of these 
errors, nearly 56% were due to a misuse of verb forms; 
16^/9% were mistakes in the choice of prepositions; 
12% were mistakes in case; 7V9% were errors in the use 
of adjective forms for adverbs. The remaining mis- 



A PRACTICAL DEMONSTRATION 167 

cellaneous errors were divided about evenly among 
misused conjunctions and double negatives. Forty- 
seven per cent of all the errors in grammar were made 
on 15 forms. 

Nearly 72% of the papers fell within or below the 
^'C" grade represented by the specimens that follow. 
Are these results satisfactory? Do they not show 
clearly that there is great general need to raise our 
standards and to correct our methods in composition 
work? No teacher should be satisfied with the returns 
indicated here. Until the large majority of the class 
can be brought above the median line the work can 
scarcely be called successful. 

The following compositions selected from the sets of 
papers taken from many states represent the best, the 
medium, and the poorest work found in each set of 
papers, appraised according to the test of vitality, 
clearness, and correctness. 

Observe that the highest, or A grade, compositions, 
are not only alive, but clear, and, except for a slip here 
and there in mechanics, correct. 

The medium, or C grade, compositions are lacking in 
vitality. They are not so sure in their sentence struc- 
ture, and generally they contain more errors in gram- 
mar, spelling, and punctuation. 

The poorest, or E grade, papers show a decided lack 
of life, clearness, and correctness, revealing in some 
cases almost subnormality in the pupil. 

Illustrating the three-step scale, three groups of com- 
positions are given, each containing the best, the me- 
dium, and the poorest work found in a set of papers. 



i68 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

These compositions are given just as they were written, 
and just as they were grouped, in order that teachers 
may study and compare them with the greatest pos- 
sible profit. 

It should be clearly understood that the following 
compositions are in no sense a measuring scale. They are 
given here merely as samples of the best, the medium, 
and the poorest compositions gathered during the 
survey. Nor do the grades given represent standard 
grading. They show merely the A-B-C or the A-B-C- 
D-E grades of that particular set of papers. 

GROUP I 

MY FIRST CATCH 

(Best Grade) 

One sunny day I was fishing in a quiet place overhung with 
trees and covered with vines. I had minnow bait. All of a 
sudden I felt a tug at my line. I waited till my catch tried to 
get away. Then I jerked. I was astonished when I saw on my 
line a large catfish. It was at least a foot and a half long. I had 
some trouble getting him out but I got him. 

A SNAKE STORY 

(Medium Grade) 

Five boys and one gril had each a battery. We brook the 
batterys open and took the big black piece of chalk out, as we 
called it. The gril wanted all of them and we would not give 
them to her. She went over in the field and truned over a stone. 
She picked up a stick and put a copper head on the stick. She 
said if you boys don't give me the chalk I'll put this snake on 
you. We all handed them over and thats a gril for you. 



A PRACTICAL DEMONSTRATION 169 

A LOST COIN 

(Poorest) 

Gdcc was walked up the street, and I look down in the gutter 
ther I saw a ten cents I pick it and throw it in the air trop 
write in the gutter and I never saw it again I will close 

GROUP II 

A BIG PRIZE 

(Best Grade) 

When I was at LaPlatte, I went fishing in a large lake. There 
was already a man there. It was about seven o'clock in the 
evening. The man was using some large bull frogs that he had 
caught when he was fishing in the Platte River. 

The man was using a pole with a reel on it. He was throwing 
his hne in the lake and then rewinding, when all of a sudden his 
Hne was given an awful jerk. He pulled and tugged, rewinding 
and then letting it out. Finally after about fifteen minutes, he 
landed his prize, which was a large cat fish. It was a beauty, 
being about four feet in length, and weighing about 35 pounds. 
The man picked the fish up and said to me, "If you catch 
a fish as large as this one, you will not want to fish any more 
to-night." 

MY FIRST FISHING TRIP 

(Medium Grade) 

I can well remember my first fishing trip. I was but a very 
small child. My mother, my aunt and myself were going. We 
took our dinner. My aunt and my mother was very interested 
in Fishing When, all at once they heard a loud splash. I had fell 
into the river. When they got me out I was wet and muddy. 
I was crying very hard. I got dry and then we ate lunch. I 
caught a little fish. They caught a great many fish. It did not 
spoil my day after all of our hard luck. 



I70 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

A FISHING TRIP 

(Poorest) 

One day when we went fishing, I put in my throw line and wate 
for a bit, "we went doun strean" and when we came back my line 
was puld tity by a big fish and when I puld it out I had a hard 
time to get the fish ofer the line. Then I walk upon the bankt of 
the river, where some every boys were fishing and shown then 
my, they sed it was a buter. 

GROUP III 

MY EXCITING EXPERIENCE 

(Best Grade) 

One bright, cool, sunshiny day some girl-friends and I were 
walking along a road through the hills when somebody gave a 
cry of terror. Of course everybody thought something terrible 
was happening. The girl that had made the noise was at the 
lead, so we had to hustle to get up with her. She was so excited 
that she could hardly tell us what had happened. She didn't 
have to tell us, for there right in the middle of the road, was a 
large, fiery-looking snake. It was a blackish-greenish color. It 
kept crawling along, nearer to us than ever. It was no wonder 
that the girl was so frightened. The first thing the smaller girls 
decided was to run away. But some of the older girls who had 
more pluck, wished very much to see what it was going to do. 

As I was saying the snake was crawling along when suddenly 
to our surprise the snake crawled back again. So that ended our 
exciting experience of the snake. We talked about it while we 
were going home. I shall never forget it. 

AN EXCITING TRIP 

(Medium Grade) 

On the day of Nov. 25-1917, 1 was off the coasts of Porto Rico, 
an island in the Atlantic, with my brother. 

As the ship went on, I was getting seasick, for it was the first 
time I ever traveled. After two days, I remembered it was the 
27th of November, Thanks Giving Day. 



A PRACTICAL DEMONSTRATION 171 

We went down and after eating turkey and a lot of good 
things, we were all surprised to hear a holler of "A Submarine." 
All the people were frightened and praying with their lifebuoys on. 

Me and my brother went up near the bridge of the ship, and 
heard the Wireless apparatus working. 

The submarine was almost to fire a bomb at us, when a U. S. 
Destroyer was seen. The men in the submarine saw it and 
slowly submerged and in a jiffy was out of sight. 

The Destroyer escorted us till the next day, after which we 
were safe. 

On Nov. 30 we reached home safely. 

SPANISH FLY 

(Poorest) 

They make up a game of Spanish fly like this the get a lot of 
boy's they choose between them who is go to bill for the game, 
one boy will be it he will have to bend down. The first boy 
that is the leader who he does all the other boys follow, Jomnie 
dump the apple cart all the other boys does the same, the boy 
who does not knock him over is it there is lot of things that you 
can do The eagle grip the leader spread his hand out hand on 
the other fellow back and if the other fellow those does not know 
ut he is it. 

A FIVE-STEP SCALE 

The grading of compositions into five classes can easily 
be done in working with a scale of three steps. As one 
measuring expert suggests, "When there is any doubt 
as to whether the paper belongs to the highest (A) or 
medium (C) class, the doubt immediately places it in 
the second, or B, group. Likewise, if there is a question 
as to whether the composition belongs in the poorest (E) 
class, the question immediately gives it the fourth 
place, or a D grade, in the scale. 



172 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

To illustrate the way this works out, the following 
t3^e papers graded in five classes are given. Again, 
let it be said that this classification illustrates not a 
scientifically prepared scale, but simply shows the 
judgment of a practical teacher dealing in a practical 
way with a set of compositions. 

GROUP I 

THE LITTLE CUB 

(Grade A) 

Last summer we went up in the mountains on a camping trip. 
The place where we went was called Bear Creek Canyon. 

One night as we were putting down the blanket on the ground 
to go to bed, we saw to shadows down by the creek. As they 
came closer we saw that it was a Mother bear and her baby. 
Daddy took his rifle and shot them. 

We have the mother bear's skin at home in the parlor. Aunt 
Katherine has the cub's skin. 

THE BLACK SNAKE 
(Grade B) 

About two summers ago I was visiting my Grandmother in 
the country. So one day another Httle girl that lived in the 
neighborhood came over and we decided to, hunt bird's nests. 
We started for the woods and doing so we cut through the pasture 
there was a little grove of trees we had to pass. We were going 
along and all at once Lorene said, "There's a birds nest in that 
tree right there." I decided I would climb the tree and look in 
the nest and see if there were any eggs in it. So I started up the 
tree and when I got half way up I ran on to a big black snake I 
saw it just as my friend said, **Look out for the snake." I 
didn't go on up the tree but got down as soon as I could. I 
hollowed for my Grandfather and he came with the garden hoe 
and killed the snake. We measured it after it was dead and it 



A PRACTICAL DEMONSTRATION 173 

was five feet long. The snake was black so I diden't see it. 
But I never climbed a tree since that day. 

RUN UP A TREE BY A STEER 

(Grade C) 

Once day early in the morning my dad told me to go out in 
the pasture and count the cattle. 

I went into the barn to get my pony. But Dave the hired 
man just got through turning my pony out in the pasture, so I 
had to go on foot. 

When I got there I climbed over the fence, and went over 
where the cattle were standing. 

They were standing by a tree, so I went over in the shade of 
the tree and sat down. 

All the sudden I heard something making a noise behind. I 
looked around and a steer was running after me, so I climbed the 
tree, and after the steer went I came down and I never counted 
cattle again with out my pony. 

FISH STORY 
(Grade D) 

One time I was in Marchid and we fished. And there was a 
slipery place and the water wasent over and inch or to deap the 
and it was pavyed in that place so I was going to waide across. 
And just then a little gold fish went by and I thot I would try 
to catch it and I sliped into the water and and slid a long ways 
down in the shallow water but I cought the fish. And then I 
cought ahold of of a trunk of the tree and helped my self out. 

(Grade E) 

While I was down to one of the lakes, we took 9 larg rail 
road tiles and made a raft, when it was don took alarge box 
and sat it on the raft. 

While we on the raft some kids thow a large piece of iron at us. 
it did not hit us, but it lite on the raft, amideny the raft became 
to sink. I cate a to tile which was float on the water and reach 
the sorth safly. 



174 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

GROUP II 

SHOCKED! 

(Grade A) 

One day the boys decided to keep people from handUng the 
wires in front of our house. They intended to keep it a secret 
but I saw them working with some wires in the cellar and I went 
down and learned that anybody who would be so silly as to touch 
those wires out in front was going to get a shock. Soon the wires 
were ready so they fixed one end of the wire in the socket and 
the other end they tied to the wire out in front and hid it so that 
people could not see the wire. Then the boys turned the elec- 
tricity on and we all stood around the wire afraid to touch it. I 
was standing rather close to the wire and my brother triped on 
something, fell over me and I fell on the wire right on my stomach. 
I just stuck there because I couldn't get away it just held me 
there. I yelled like all get out and the boys pulled me off and for 
two or three minutes afterward I shook all over, and I never 
stood near that wire when it was turned on again. 

MY CATFISH 

(Grade B) 

One when I was at Blue Springs My aunt and my friend Robert 
and I went to the Blue River fishing. 

We fished for quite a while. I was out in an old boat fishing. 
Bob went over nearer the dam. A man gave him a catfish. I 
caught a catfish. It was the first one I ever caught. I did'ent 
know what to do with it. I held it out over the water an asked 
Bob what I should do with it. It wiggled so much it fell off into 
the water again. I fished for a little while but did'ent catch any 
thing more. 

THE TURTLE 

(Grade C) 

One day my brother went fishing and they didn't catch a fish 
but they got a turtle. 



A PRACTICAL DEMONSTRATION 175 

It was in the tub where I let my little toy ducks swim and I 
thought that it was a toy too. 

I could squeez my ducks head and the we quack so I squeezed 
the turtle head to see if it would quack too The turtle didn't 
like the idea so it got hold of my finger. I yelled to the top of 
my lunges and all the neighbors come out to see what was the 
matter. 

One man took the turtle off. And I never tuched one after 
ward. 

CATCHING FROGS 
(Grade D) 

One day as I did not have anything to do I was going fishing 
and we were trying catch to some fish there was another boy with 
me and we keep seeing some frogs and after awhile he found a 
can so we decided to catch some frogs. We cot about a dozen 
it was late we went home. He live the closeses and when we got 
to his house I wanted me to take them home with me so I did so. 
When I got home my folks were out riding. When they got 
home and saw what I done they got mad. But the next day 
when I was at school they went out riding again they took the 
frogs with them and threw them in a pond. 

ALMOST DRONDED 

(Grade E) 

it was about 3 ockloc in the after noon when I was in swiming 
in a river I forget the name of it but the curent was real strong 
and I was standing on the spring bord and it gave a sudden bend 
and it broke right in the rute of a tree and I went head long into 
the river I did not no what happen d fore a long whill but when 
I awoke my was on a lot of grass and several boys aront me my 
head heart me very mutch I put my hand to it and I fond it was 
cut I asked them what was matter thay told me that I had been 
unconchus fore 10 minutes. 



176 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

FRUITS OF FORMAL AND INFORMAL METHODS IN 
LANGUAGE TEACHING 

The two sets of compositions which follow this ex- 
planation were produced by two different classes in 
different states. They were written during language 
lessons which were conducted by the same visiting 
teacher. 

Practically the same conditions were created in both 
lessons. The pupils were stimulated, first to talk, then 
they were given an encouraging chance to write of their 
experiences. As fast as the compositions were finished 
they were collected. No pupil had the opportunity 
to re-read his work. The results tell the rest of the 
story. 

What do these results reveal? In the first place they 
show that each of the regular teachers was skillful in 
getting the results she sought. In the second place, 
they show clearly the difference between the natural 
and the unnatural methods of teaching language. 

The best, the medium grade, and the poorest of the 
compositions are represented in the selections from both 
sets of papers. 

GROUP I 

Compositions Showing the Effect of Formal Teaching 

FOOLED 

One day when William and I were walking in the woods I 
thought I had a worm. I looked at it very carefully and saw 
that I had a snake. I droped it admiately and ran for home. I 
think I was very careless. 



A PRACTICAL DEMONSTRATION 177 

THE WOUNDED BIRD 

One day while I was taking a walk I saw a wounded bird lying 
on the sidewalk. The bird's foot was bleeding. I think he fell 
of a tree. 

FISHING 

One day my friend and I was catching sunfishes. I caught 
five sunfishes. My friend caught three. I think I will go fishing 
again next week if its a fine day. 

A SAPPROW NEST 

When we to our home on Bayard St. I found three nests made 
of straws. It belong to the sapprow. There were 5 white eggs 
in the nest. I think it was a fine nest. 

CHASING A RABIT 

Last week I went out in the woods to play with the birds. As 
I looked backwards I saw a rabit. I chased after the rabit. On 
the way I picked a stick and hit him. I think he was a daredevel 
because I could not catch him. 

A WALK IN THE WOODS 

O Sunday my friend Joseph and I were walking in the woods. 
Joseph seen a rabbit he was running after it. He caught him and 
brough him home. A man said that he will give him a dollar for 
it. I think he was a lucky fellow. 

TRICKS 

Last night I saw foiu: rabbits doing tricks. One of them stood 
on him hine legs when the master struck his finger he would 
jump on his front legs. I think they are tamed. 

THE BLACK SNAKE 

One day my brother and I were picking apples in the sand 
pit. While we were picking I saw a black snake. I got so 
frighten that I dump all my apples out. I think I will not run 
away from black snakes again. 



178 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

IN A COUNTRY FIELD 
One Sunday I went to the country. I went to the field on 
my grandmother's farm. There I saw white vololits and butter 
cup. I think it is lovely to hve in the country. 

A WALK IN THE WOOD'S 
Yesterday John and I took a walk in the wood's. John saw 
a rabit and kill it. I think that rabit was to nice to kill. 

GROUP II 

Compositions Showing the Result of Natural Methods in 
Language Teaching 

TRYING TO SAVE A BIRD 

One day my brother John came into the house with something 
precious. It was a Httle bird that could not fly. 

We got some salve and put it on the broken wing. It lived 
for several days in happiness. On the third day the bird died. 
We took a chocolate box with paper lace and put the bird in it 
and hired it under a rose bush. 

A BIRD STORY 

One day I and a friend of mine were climbing trees in my 
uncles yard. 

When we were about as high as we could get we say a birds 
nest. 

There was one egg in the nest. The next day we came to have 
another look, when we got there we found two eggs. Three days 
after that we found five eggs. 

But the next day the nest was at the bottom of the tree and 
five broken eggs told the mute story. 

We never saw the mother bird. But we often did wonder 
who did it. 

THE WAY I SAVED A BIRD 

One smnmer day as I was playing in the yard, I heard the 
sharp crack of a gun. My first thought was to find out what it was. 



A PRACTICAL DEMONSTRATION 179 

So I left my play and went into the orchard. There I found 
two boys who had guns. I asked them what they were doing. 

"Shooting birds," was the reply. 

"You must not shoot birds," I said and they didn't. 

Then I went to one side of the orchard and found a bird with 
a broken wing. I took it to the house and cared for it until it 
could fly. When I turned it loose it would not go away. It 
stayed around for one month and then disappeared. 

A EXPERIENCE 

In the spring there came a father and moher canary. I watched 
them build there nests. After the built their nests the mother 
raised their babies. 

One day the wind blew the nest out of the tree and all the 
Httle birds fell out. Mother and I went out and out the nest 
up in the tree all the little birds were chirping and they were 
hard to catch. 

The mother bird was flying around our heads and scholding us. 

The next stmimer the tree was cut down and I did not see the 
birds any more. 

FINDING A BIRDS NEST 

One day while I was out playing I saw a bird's nest. A little 
ways off was a couple of little birds. The wind had blown the 
nest out of the tree, and when it fell the birds fell out. 

I took the nest and put the baby birds in it and put the nest 
back in the tree. After a few months the same birds were flying 
about and getting their own food. 

ALMOST CAUGHT 

One nice day when I was out in our yard I saw sparrow light 
in a Httle tree. And to my surprise I saw a big cat creeping up 
after the bird. The cat gave a leap it was to late the bird flew. 

BIRD EXPERIENCE 
Once when I was picking plums I saw a little nest. It had 
four Httle eggs in. I think it was a meadow larks because it was 



i8o OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

in some grass. The eggs were white. When I first saw it I 
was going to break the eggs because I thought it was a sparrow's. 

A BAD DOG 

One time when I was out picking chocke cherries I happen to 
look in one part of the bush where there was a bird's nest. The 
bird was a Brown Thrush. My dog was along with us. We 
chased the bird away. When we got home I tied him up for 
one hour. 

Group one gives unmistakable evidence that the 
teacher had been working directly to develop a "sentence 
sense." The pupils, too, had been trained to begin and to 
end their compositions in a formal way. It is interesting 
to note that out of twenty-six compositions, twenty of 
them were brought to a close with sentences which 
begin ''I think," or "I thought." 

This group of papers came from a class composed 
entirely of fifth grade pupils. The second group of 
papers came from a mixed class of fifth and sixth grade 
pupils. 

As will plainly be seen, the second set is characterized 
by a naturalness and spontaneity of expression which is 
dehghtful. The *' sentence sense " is almost, if not quite, 
as sure as in the formal compositions and there is no 
greater proportion of mechanical errors. 

QUESTIONS 

1. What definite help in appraising compositions would be 
given teachers by a carefuUy prepared three-step scale made up 
of genuine compositions? 

2. Show how the teacher using such a scale might readily 
grade papers into five groups if desired. 



A PRACTICAL DEMONSTRATION i8i 

3. After studying carefully the compositions given in the 
three-step scales in this chapter, point out (a) The qualities in 
the "A" compositions that entitle them to first place; (b) The 
reason why the "C* compositions do not reach the highest 
standard; (c) The cause of failure in the "E" papers. 

4. Make a comparative study of the two sets of compositions 
given to show the fruits of formal and informal teaching of com- 
position. How do these results show strength in the regular 
teachers of both classes? What do they reveal as to the relative 
value of natural and unnatural methods in language work? 

EXERCISES 

1. Let each member of the class carry out the following 
experiment either personally or through some teacher willing to 
join: 

a. Select a general subject close to the life of the pupils to 
be taught; as, "A Street Accident," *'A Fire," "A Runaway," 
"A True Fish Story," "Fun in the Woods," "An Animal Story," 
"A Pen Picture of Some Person or Scene." "A True Fireside 
Story from An Older Person." 

b. After leading the pupils to talk on one of these subjects 
for a few moments, let them write their stories or sketches. 
Gather the papers as fast as they are produced. 

c. Grade the papers into three or five classes. Tabulate 
the results, and be ready to join in a discussion of the returns with 
your associates. Compare with the compositions in the three 
and five-step scales given in this chapter the best, the medium 
grade, and the poorest compositions you get. 



VI 
VITALIZING GRAMMAR 

Grammar should be taught not apart from but as 
a part of language. Thus taught it may be infused with 
life and turned to real service. 



183 



APPLYING THE SERVICE TEST 

Grammar to be vitalized must be taught not apart 
from but as a part of daily- life language. Thus taught it 
becomes a living study. In old time practice, far too 
common yet in our schools, the subject was formalized, 
not vitalized. It was made merely a series of exercises 
on the facts and formulas of speech. Little, if any, em- 
phasis was given to the application of this knowledge in 
ever^^day language. The practical results were dis- 
appointing. 

My first contact with the study of grammar came 
when I was a pupil in the old ''fifth reader class," now 
called the eighth grade. It was introduced then in the 
schools of this country as an optional subject. Boy like, 
I chose not to take it. Later I had a good deal of 
secret satisfaction in this decision; for the subject was 
made so persecutingly formal that every one in the class 
disliked it. I remember well how I used to listen to my 
classmates running over the old conjugation, "I love, 
you love, he loves," and wonder what the ''lingo" 
was all about. 

When I entered a certain academy a year or so after- 
wards, grammar was required. It might properly have 
been called "diagrammar." Literally we diagramed 
every kind of sentence imagina.ble, from "Squirrels 
climb" to those found in Milton's "Sonnet on his 
Blindness," which were given in the final test. I must 

185 



1 86 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

have iDecome rather adept in the process, for I won 97 
per cent, the highest mark given in the class that year. 

A month later, however, when I took another examina- 
tion to get a teacher's certificate, I lost my laurels. The 
examiners asked me a few practical questions involving 
the use of grammar in daily speech. It was a fair 
test; but it caught me unawares. Our teacher 
had never suggested to us that grammar was a usable 
subject. As a consequence, my grade took a sudden 
drop from 97 to 60. On recovering from this shock 
to my pride, I asked myself seriously, **What is the 
use?" 

"What is the use of grammar?" has been a persistent 
question with me ever since. 

In these days when everything and everybody must 
count for something or be counted out, a satisfactory 
answer must be given to that question, or grammar is in 
grave danger of being swept out of the curriculum. Some 
daring educational leaders, indeed, dissatisfied with the 
meager returns that have come from the study, have 
already eliminated formal grammar from their schools. 
The devotees of the subject, on the other hand, with a 
vague but tenacious behef in its disciplinary and cultural 
value, are still clinging desperately to it. Neither of 
these extremes can be right. There must be a sensible 
middle ground on which all can firmly stand. It is our 
business to find it. 

What is the use of grammar? The question was put 
recently to an audience of more than a thousand teach- 
ers. After a moment of silence, one man broke the 
tension and provoked laughter by saying, *'Well, it 



APPLYING THE SERVICE TEST 187 

has helped me out of a tight place in an examination 
several times." 

** There is only one use of grammar," boldly asserts 
an authority on English in a book which issued recently 
from the press of a reputable publishing house, "and 
that is to teach the principles underlying correct usage." 

Justifying correct usage is not the only use of grammar. 
It has an even greater value in the help it offers in 
sentence building. To be clear and sure in speech, one 
must know and follow in every sentence the fundamental 
principles of sentence structure. It would be nearer 
the truth to say, There are two practical results to 
come from a study of grammar: Correct usage, and 
skill in sentence building. Whether these valuable re- 
turns do come, however, depends directly on how the 
subject is taught. 

Old-time methods have proved ineffective. Why? 
Simply because they failed to connect grammar with 
life. The subject was not made usable or vital in every- 
day language. It was rather a series of empty exercises in 
classifying and parsing parts of speech, analyzing and 
diagraming sentences, memorizing definitions that do 
not define, and learning rules that are cancelled for the 
most part by exceptions. So long as this constitutes the 
teaching of grammar, so long may we expect the subject 
to be both lifeless and useless. Just the moment that 
teachers turn their attention to developing essential 
principles that underHe effective speech, and to cultiva- 
ting right habits in language, then will grammar take and 
hold its rightful place in the curriculum. 

Every essential principle in grammar can be best 



i88 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

taught from the use viewpoint. Every lesson in the 
subject should be applied. Skill to use the forms of 
speech rightly comes not from learning facts and rules, 
but from well guided practice in speaking correctly. 
Neither will diagraming sentences alone give ability in 
sentence building. To learn to build, one must be 
trained in building. 

There is no thought here to be unfair to these time- 
honored practices in teaching grammar. Classifying, 
parsing, conjugating, diagraming, all have their place, 
a subordinate one, however, in the study of the subject. 
The trouble is that these processes have been used with- 
out a clear understanding as to their meaning and 
purpose in the scheme of language teaching, and with 
little or no practical application. 

The diagram has been aimlessly used. It is an in- 
genious enough device — to teach pupils how to read. 
It was created primarily to promote facility in ana- 
lyzing sentences, not in constructing them. Em- 
ployed sparingly, with this end clearly in view, the 
device may be made helpful. Here, however, the ques- 
tion has been raised, ''Does the diagram give help or 
hindrance even in sentence analysis?'' Some teachers 
are strong in its defense. Others hold that it is a crutch 
on which the pupil may lean too much. 

Certain it is that the help offered by the diagram has 
been abused. By most teachers the diagram has been 
made not a means, but an end in itself. Too often also, 
because it is an easy, not to say lazy, device to keep 
pupils busy, it has stolen time from far more valuable 
exercises. This is an inexcusable waste of child life. 



APPLYING THE SERVICE TEST 189 

As to sentence analysis, its value in developing skiU to 
build sentences has been greatly over-estimated. Analy- 
sis bears to sentence building about the same relation 
that taking a watch to pieces bears to watch making. 
Indirectly it helps, of course; but to become skillful 
either in constructing sentences or in creating watches, 
one must do much more than merely take them apart. 
Constructive ability comes mainly from training in 
construction. Sentence structure may best be taught 
not from the analytical but from the constructive view- 
point. The pupil should be given the essential principles 
of sentence building while building them. Thus con- 
nected with his own language, they can be made most 
vital and their effective use in his every day speech 
assured. 

All of the principles of grammar, indeed, to be vitalized, 
must be taught, as already said, not apart from, but as 
a part of living language. So to teach grammar is to 
prune the subject of its dead Hmbs, to give it motive' 
and meaning, to make it something more than a mere 
grinding out of language facts. 

The teacher of a sixth grade class was giving a lesson 
on the adverb before her superintendent and a visitor. 
The pupils showed that they had been skillfully taught. 
They could pick out adverbs from almost any sentence ■ 
without mistake. They knew the definition of that part 
of speech perfectly. 

"What is the matter with that lesson?" asked the 
superintendent. *"~ ^— -^ 

"It is an excellent example of the old type of grammar 
teaching," responded the visitor. 



iQo OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

"How would you teach the adverb differently?" 
came the challenging question. 

"Shall we see?" 

"Certainly." 

The visitor stepped before the class and asked: 
" What is an adverb? " 

"It is a word that modifies a verb, adjective, or other 
adverb," came the quick reply. 

" Yes, but what is it good for? " 

The pupils were puzzled. 

"Of what use is an adverb in a sentence?" 

"Oh, it adds something to the meaning of a verb," 
ventured a pupil. 

"Does it add or subtract?" 

The pupils had nothing to say, but their faces showed 
interest. 

"Give a sentence containing an adverb." 

"The horse ran rapidly down the street," said a 
pupil. 

"Very well. And do you think rapidly adds some- 
thing to the verb?" 

"Yes." 

"We must agree that it does; but which one of you 
can send the horse down the street faster and not use an 
adverb?" 

The class was ahve with interest now, puzzling out the 
question. 

Finally one boy said: "The horse raced down the 
street." "Dashed," suggested a girl. 

"What expression should you rather choose, ran 
rapidly or raced?" 



APPLYING THE SERVICE TEST 191 

"Raced," was the unanimous decision. 

"Why?" 

"Because it has more life in it;" "We see the horse 
more clearly," were some of the reasons offered. 

"Now I think you can see my point when I say that 
the adverb may at times add strength to a sentence, but 
often it seems rather to subtract. We certainly should 
not use two words when one will do the work better." 

"When you go home tonight take your newspapers 
and see how many times the reporters seem to avoid 
the use of adverbs." 

The thought vivified by this illustration finds applica- 
tion in every lesson in grammar. It should be the effort 
of teachers constantly to vitalize their points by con- 
necting them with living language. Unless the lesson 
has a present connection, and a forward look, it is a 
failure, no matter how well the facts are taught. 

Grammar, it should be remembered, is not so much a 
matter of fact as of feeling. Rules, definitions, classifica- 
tions — all of the formulas of speech, are void and mean- 
ingless unless they are so taught as to teach and quicken 
the language consciousness. The fundamental prin- 
ciples of grammar must really be felt, to be known and 
applied. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Explain and illustrate the difference between a formal 
exercise in grammar and a vitalized lesson in the same work. 

2. Why should the grammar lesson be taught from the "use 
viewiK)int"? 

3. What are the two practical uses to come from a study of 
grammar? Illustrate each clearly. 



192 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

4. By what methods may the habits of speaking correctly 
best be fixed? 

5. Why is diagraming sentences in itself not sufficient training 
to give the pupil skill in sentence building? How may such skill 
best be cultivated? 

EXERCISES 

1. Choosing one of the following as a topic sentence, develop 
a brief, clear paragraph, ampHfying the thought : 

a. Grammar has been formalized, not vitalized. 

b. Grammar is not so much a matter of fact as of feeling. 

c. The principles of grammar should be taught not apart 

from but as a part of living language. 
Be ready to read your paragraph and discuss it and others 
with your associates in this work. 

2. Find in any good newspaper five sentences showing 
that the writer avoided the use of adverbs. 

3. What are the simplest rules of grammar followed in 
any good newspaper office? Find from the best editors the 
answer to this question. 



^ 



CORNERSTONES IN SENTENCE BUILDING 

Skill in speech or in writing is based primarily on a 
good working knowledge of sentence structure. To be 
able to build clear, convincing sentences, one must 
know from a practical viewpoint how such sentences 
are built. An applied study of sentence building is 
therefore of fundamental importance in the language 
course. 

The urgent general need for such a study was clearly 
shown in the results that came from the composition 
survey recently made throughout a score of states. 
Most of the compositions gathered during this survey, 
both from elementary and high school classes, were 
characterized by faulty sentence structure. Five t)^e 
faults prevailed: 

1. Failure to make complete sentences. Clauses, 
participial phrases, and other word groups were often 
left "hanging in the air;^' for example: 

a. One morning when I was playing with my little brother 
in the back yard. 

b. One day when I was in the woods picking flowers with 
some of my friends. 

c. Which was very risky business for the pony was not 
very tame. 

d. And the Indians hated the white men. And caused 
them many troubles. 

2. Lack of sentence unity. The running of sen- 

193 



194 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

tences together with or without connectives, was a very 
common fault; for example: 

a. When we was out fishing we caught a lot of fish, most 
of them were catfish we was with another family and the boy 
called to us we went up where he was and he said, 'There 
was some turtles there.' 

b. We had some potatoes which we baked when they were 
baked the boys^ were fighting for their potatoes this hermit 
settle their argument and he always gives us potatoes. 

3. Failure to subordinate properly less important 
parts of the sentence. The stringing of sentences to- 
gether with "and" and other co-ordinating connectives 
was the rule rather than the exception in the elementary 
grades. In high school compositions the fault was still 
frequently found. The following sentences from the 
elementary grades are typical: 

a. I was riding a horse named Shorty and a wagon went 
by and he bucked me off because he had never been out on the 
road before and I never rode that horse again. 

b. I went down to the lake and there the water was about 
all gone and the fish were just thick so I went and told papa 
and he came with a pitchfork and got ten fish and Mr. Sheldon 
got eleven. 

4. Failure to place rightly the modifying and other 
elements within the sentence. The jumbling of the 
sentence structure was very frequent; for illustration: 

a. We had to get strong sticks first because the rock was 
very steep so that if we did not have them we would surely 
fall. ' 

b. We went into a large timber and decided to make a 
log pile we came upon our headquarters. 



CORNERSTONES IN SENTENCE BUILDING 195 

c. It knocked the horse unconscious while it smashed the 
wagon with about fifteen boxes of milk into the street. 

5. A general monotony of sentence structure. Most 
of the papers were wanting that variety which puts ''the 
spice of life'' into composition. Few of the pupils 
seemed to know anything about transposing parts of the 
sentence in order to give it a more convincing quahty. 
If any teaching had been given on this point it had 
certainly failed to carry over into practice. 

Occasionally a pupil was found who seemed to have a 
native grace and clearness of construction. Probably 
ten per cent of the compositions moved with an ease and 
sureness of step in their sentence structure. The fol- 
lowing are a few sentences selected from such papers : 

a. Some of the older girls who had more pluck wished to 
see what the snake was going to do. 

b. When I saw my boat begin to float away, I slid down 
the bank and fell 'splash' into the water. 

c. I sank very rapidly, but my father stepped on a post 
that protruded from the water and caught me just in time to 
save me from drowning. 

d. We waited it seemed to me several hours before we 
caught anything. 

e. With a pole and a can of grasshoppers we went to the 
creek, dreaming of the many fish we were going to catch. 

f . We had more fun pushing the boat than we did 
catching the fish. 

g. I felt a nibble and jerked my line up. 

h. It was a woody tract of land with a muddy river, called 
the Nemaha, running through it. 

The vital questions are : How can pupils best be trained 
to produce more of these well-built sentences? By what 



i96 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

practical plan can they be led to express themselves 
clearly and gracefully? 

This desired result will certainly not come merely 
from teaching facts about sentences. Nor can it be 
achieved simply by analyzing and diagraming lists of 
sentences. The thing most needed is positive training 
in sentence building coupled with a study of good models 
taken from living literature. 

Such a study should aim, not in a formal way, but by 
natural methods to cultivate in the pupil: 

1. A sure *' sentence sense." 

2. Ability to build unified sentences. 

3. Facility in placing properly the various words and 
groups of words within the sentence. 

With these essentials mastered, most of the faults in 
sentence building would disappear. 

A sure "sentence sense" must be gained while the 
pupil studies the sentence constructively in building 
paragraphs to express his own thoughts and experiences. 

The sentence ordinarily does not occur alone. It is 
generally a unit within a larger unit. As the pupil is 
given opportunity to express himself on real- life subjects, 
he may well be trained to make his thoughts move for- 
ward one sentence step at a time and to express his 
thoughts in well-rounded sentences. It is helpful here 
to teach him that the sentences in a narrative paragraph 
are Uke links in a chain. Each sentence is complete; 
yet each should be hnked naturally with other sentences 
one after another to develop the story. For illustra- 
tion, observe how the sentences in the following par- 
agraphs follow one another in natural order: 



CORNERSTONES IN SENTENCE BUILDING 197 

"The fellow knew no English and did not understand, so 
he simply said, ' Sekki-yah!' and the donkey was off again 
like a shot. He turned the corner suddenly, and Blucher 
went over his head. And, to speak truly, every mule stumbled 
over the two, and the whole cavalcade was piled up in a 
heap. No harm done. A fall from one of those donkeys is 
of little more consequence than rolling off a sofa." — Mark 
Twain in Innocents Abroad. 

In the effectively built explanatory or descriptive 
paragraph, the sentences are more like spokes in a 
wheel. They are connected closely with the topic, or 
hub thought of the paragraph, one by one until the whole 
topic is rounded out; for illustration: 

"The drones have the least enviable time of it. Their 
foothold in the hive is very precarious. They look like the 
giants, the lords of the swarm, but they are really the tools. 
Their loud threatening hum has no sting to back it up, and 
their size and noise make them only more conspicuous marks 
for the birds." — John Burroughs in Pastoral Bees. 

Study of well constructed paragraphs like the fore- 
going will be helpful in developing a *^ sentence sense. '^ 
The best way, however, to make the pupil really feel 
what a sentence is, is to train him day by day in building 
sentences to express his own thoughts and experiences. 

Ability to build unified sentences is best acquired 
likewise by a study of sentences applied through practice 
in building them. A helpfid exercise here is drill in 
finding the "core" or central thought of well-constructed 
sentences. To train the pupil to recognize quickly the 
main subject and predicate, is to help him both to read 
with facility and also to build well-unified sentences of 
his own. 



198 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

Facility in handling rightly the various elements 
within the sentence is likewise predicated on a clear 
understanding of those elements. One thing of especial 
importance in this connection is to make clear to the 
learner the essential unity of the word group. 

The phrase and the clause are each practically as 
one word in function. For illustration: We went 
yesterday. We went in the morning. We went before 
the sun rose. The phrase and the clause used here, 
like the word yesterday, answer the question, When? 
Every phrase and clause used as an element within the 
sentence likewise performs but a single office. This 
principle, made plain to the pupil, will clear away many 
difficulties now met with in analyzing sentences. 

The essential unity of the word group is most 
clearly shown in the idiom. This element, which 
does so much to give individuality and Hfe to any 
language, has a structure peculiar to itself. Taken 
apart it is meaningless; taken as a unit it is fraught 
with meaning. 

For illustration: He was well-to-do. The old squire 
would not put up with any nonsense. The pony rider 
managed to streak by in the night. 

An idiom may perform the office of adjective, verb, 
or other part of speech. It is not capable of further 
analysis. A great deal of time has been thrown away 
trying to diagram idioms. The idiom cannot be ex- 
plained according to any of the regular rules of grammar. 
It is an outlaw in speech. Nevertheless, because of the 
service it performs, it has been accepted into good 
usage. Grammarians often ignore this vital language 



CORNERSTONES IN SENTENCE BUILDING 199 

element. To do so is to invite trouble. B etter far face fairly 
the problems presented by the idiom and deal with this 
pecuKar structure according to its own merits. Pupils 
should be trained to recognize the idiom and to use it if by 
so doing they can make their sentences more effective. 

The sentence, to be effective, must be at once clear, 
correct, concise, and convincing. None of these essen- 
tial quahties can be assured unless the speaker or the 
writer, as before said, has a good working knowledge of 
the basic principles of sentence structure. 

Clearness is the quality of first importance. The 
sentence, to convey thought and feeHng effectively, 
must say plainly what is meant to be said. Ambiguous, 
or misty sentences defeat their own purpose. How 
shall the sentence be made clear? On what does this 
first quality depend? 

The following directions are most helpful here : 

1. Say one thing at a time. 

2. Keep modifying words and word groups in their 
proper places. 

3. Make sure that the antecedent of the pronoun is 
clear. 

4. See that each participle connects closely with its 
subject. 

5. Use conjunctions and prepositions with care. 
The careful following of these practical suggestions 

would prevent most of the faulty sentence structure that 
makes against clearness of speech. 

Correctness, another quaHty of prime importance in 
sentence building, is also made surer by an intelligent 
knowledge of sentence structure. 



200 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

But since correct usage is dependent for the most 
part on the right choice of word forms, a discussion 
of it will best be taken up in connection with in- 
flections. 

Conciseness, the third essential named, is closely 
allied to clearness. Waste of words in sentences makes 
against plainness and force of expression. Every word 
in the sentence should be made to carry meaning. 
How can the pupil be trained thus to build his 
sentences? Mainly by observing these two practical 
suggestions: 

1. Avoid redundancies, such as the double negatives, 
"have got," expressions like *'John he," unnecessary 
"ands," and superfluous adjectives, as, "a great big, 
monstrous bear." 

2. Reduce clauses to phrases and phrases to words, 
whenever this can be done with distinct advantage in 
clearness. 

The sentence may often be materially shortened by 
using the infinitive; thus: 

I went in order that I might see my mother. 
I went to see my mother. 

The infinitive is a kind of idiomatic "short cut" in 
language. A pupil will get a clearer idea of this usually 
troublesome element when he is led to see its practical 
uses. 

The participial phrase, too, is generally a shortened 
relative clause; for example: 

The boy, who was running down the street, stumbled and fell. 
The boy, running down the street, stumbled and fell. 



CORNERSTONES IN SENTENCE BUILDING 201 

The tree, which had been broken by the storm, lay across 
the road. 

The tree, broken by the storm, lay across the road. 

So too, the appositive is nothing else than a reduced 
clause. Thus, instead of: Henry, who is the black- 
smith, lives near the creek; we may use: Henry, the 
blacksmith, lives near the creek. 

The chief point here to be emphasized, is this: The 
principles of sentence structure that make for concise- 
ness should be taught from the use viewpoint. The 
difficulties ordinarily met in teaching participles, infini- 
tives, and other sentence elements might be greatly 
overcome if the practical side of these useful elements 
were clearly shown. 

The same thought apphes also to the making of a 
sentence convincing or forceful. A thing said does not 
amount to much unless it is well said. Whether the 
sentence is constructed so that the thought is well said, 
depends primarily on the application of certain funda- 
mental principles of construction. These principles 
should be so taught as to be made useful and appHcable 
in daily Hfe language. 

All teachers of grammar, for example, teach active 
and passive voice. What use is made of the knowledge? 
What is the practical value in changing the voice of 
the verb? Few teachers, it would seem, make the use 
of this change clear to their pupils. 

The chief reason for the change of voice in any sen- 
tence is to place the emphasis where it belongs in order 
to put the thought more convincingly. 



202 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

Observe, for illustration, these sentences from Patrick 
Henry's famous speech: 

"We have petitioned." " Our petitions have been slighted." 
"We have supplicated." " Our supplications have been dis- 
regarded." 

What is the effect of this shifting of the subject? It 
simply keeps the emphasis where it belongs. 

Or take this sentence from Rip Van Winkle: 
"My very dog has forgotten me!'' Suppose Irving had 
said, "I am forgotten by my very dog." What would 
the sentence have lost in strength? An intelligent use 
of the passive and active forms is vital. 

There are other changes in structure which vitalize 
the sentence. Besides changing the voice of the verb, 
the sentence may be made more convincing or forceful, 

1. By transposing, or placing out of their natural 
order, various parts of the sentence, thus: "Beneath 
in the churchyard lay the dead." Suppose Longfellow 
had said, "The dead lay in the churchyard beneath," 
the effect would have been to lessen greatly the force 
of his sentence. 

2. By use of direct for indirect discourse; thus: 
The captain told his men to halt. 

"Halt!" commanded the captain. 

3. By subordinating the elements of least importance; 
thus: The hunter waded down the stream and threw the 
Indians off his trail. 

The hunter, wading down the stream, threw the 
Indians off his trail. 

A good deal has been said about cultivating a 
"sentence sense" in the pupil. He needs not only a 



CORNERSTONES IN SENTENCE BUILDING 203 

true "sentence sense/^ but "a sense of subordination," 
"a sense of modification," "a sense of emphasis," and 
a general "sense of word fitness" if he is to build sen- 
tences effectively. 

With these different grammatical senses well devel- 
oped, he will be far better able to construct sentences 
that are not only clear and correct, but concise and 
convincing. 

It is not enough to teach the facts about these essen- 
tial principles of sentence structure. They must be 
vitalized by practical application in every day usage 
if the pupil is really to know and to feel what they 
mean. To encourage pupils to apply these sentence 
facts in all their necessary work, is to lay a soimd 
foundation for right Hfe habits in sentence building. 

QUESTIONS 

1. What are the essentials of an effectively built sentence? 
Dlustrate. 

2. What essential thing should be learned about word groups? 

3. Show four ways by which the sentence is made concise. 
What is the practical value of concise language in daily life? 

4. Explain the effect of the following grammatical changes 
on the convincing quality of the sentence: 1. Transposition; 
2. Subordination; 3. Change of voice; 4. Change from declara- 
tive to interrogative form. Illustrate your explanation. 

EXERCISES 

1. Select from a newspaper or magazine of current issue a 
paragraph of sentences that seem to you at once clear, correct, 
concise, and convincing. Share the paragraph you select by 
reading it to your group, who wUl read Hke selections. Why are 
some paragraphs more interesting than others? 



204 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

2. Select a paragraph from work you have previously pre- 
pared. In what respects does it fail to show the four essentials 
of sentence structure? 

3. Make a comparative study of the sentences used by an 
interesting speaker with those used by a dull speaker. What 
essential difference do you observe? 



THE PARTS OF SPEECH IN USE 

Essentially there are but five parts to be performed 
by words or groups of words in sentence building. They 
may act as substantives, as assertives, as modifiers, as 
connectives, or they may be used as independent ele- 
ments to cast different shades of feeling over the sentence 
as a whole. These essential uses the pupil must be 
trained to recognize and to feel if he is to get a practical 
understanding of the parts of speech. 

The substantive is the naming element. It indicates 
the object or idea to be talked about. Generally it is 
either a noun or a pronoun. Frequently we find phrases 
and clauses used substantively. For illustration: Over 
the fence is out. His going now will make no difference. 
I did whatever I pleased. 

There are three main things of practical use to be 
learned in dealing with the noun: 

1. The capitalization of proper nouns. 

2. The agreement of the verb with the collective 
noun, which is usually regarded as singular in number. 

3. The speUing of the various forms expressive of 
changes in number, in genitive case, and in gender. 

There are two general rules of practical use to be 
mastered concerning the pronoun : 

1. Keep the antecedent clear. 

2. Choose the right case forms. 

Most of the difficulty in keeping the antecedent of thf 

20S 



2o6 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

pronoun clear comes in sentences containing indirect 
discourse; for example: The scout told the captain that 
if he should get killed he should lead the men back to 
the fort. The best way to correct such a fault is generally 
to use a direct quotation; as/' If I am killed/' said the 
scout to the captain, *4ead the men back to the fort." 
A comparative study of direct and indirect quotations 
would help greatly in eHminating this common fault. 

Substantive phrases and clauses, to be handled most 
effectively, must be regarded as units. The pupil, 
thinking of these word groups as essentially one thing 
in effect and function, finds little difficulty in using 
them correctly. Essentially there are but five places 
to be filled by the group of words used substantively. 
They are found in common use: 1. As subject; Climb- 
ing the hill was pleasant. 2. As direct object; I 
promised to come. 3. As predicate nominative; The 
question was, Could it be done ? 4. Following a preposi- 
tion; He talked of going to war. 5. In apposition; The 
fact that he had the money proves his guilt. If other 
uses are found at all, they are so infrequent as, for 
practical purposes, to need httle attention. The 
substantive, indeed, presents comparatively Httle trouble 
either to understand or to use correctly. 

The verb is the element that calls for the most careful 
consideration. To know the verb thoroughly is to hold 
the master key to the sentence. With this knowledge 
one may unlock almost any combination of phrases and 
clauses used in sentence building. 

The verb is the vitalizing element. It is the part of 
speech that puts action and life into language. Not all 



THE PARTS OF SPEECH IN USE 207 

verbs express action, it is true, but practically all of the 

action expressed in our speech comes either from the 

verb or from some other part of speech derived from it. 

For illustration : 

"So came the captain with the mighty heart; 
And when the step of earthquake shook the house, 
Wrenching the rafters from their ancient holdy 
He held the ridge-pole up and spiked again 
The rafters of the home. He held his place — 
Held the long purpose like a growing tree — 
Held on through hlame and faltered not at praise. 
And when he fell in whirlwind, he went down 
As when a kingly cedar green with boughs 
Goes down with a great shout upon the hills." 

A moment's study of the italicized words will reveal 
that these Hfe-giving expressions are either verbs, or 
nouns and adjectives originating from verb forms. The 
vitality of speech, as here shown, is thus directly or 
indirectly dependent on this active element of language. 

Action in the sentence is expressed in three ways: 

1. By assertion; as, The birds were singing gayly in 
the trees. Here were singing asserts the action and 
makes a predicative verb. 

2. By assumption ; as. The birds, singing gayly in the 
trees, made the morning cheerful. In this sentence the 
singing is assumed, not asserted, by the participle, or 
non-predicative verb. 

3. By suggestion; as. The singing birds made the 
morning cheerful. The singing here is merely suggested 
by the verbal adjective. 

In teaching the verb it is of fundamental importance 
that the child be made to feel these different ways of 
expressing action. This done, the difficulties usually 
met in studying verbs and verbals may be readily cleared 



2o8 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

away, and the effective use of these verbal elements 
assured. 

The predicative and the non-predicative verbs are 
alike in four ways : 

1. They express action or being. 

2. They may take adverbial modifiers. 

3. They have subjects, either expressed or implied. 

4. They may take the same kind of complements: 

(a) Predicative: ^q found the trail quickly. 

(b) Non-Predicative: Finding the trail quickly, or, 
We hoped to find the trail quickly. 

In only one essential are these two kinds of verbs 
different. The predicative verb asserts whatever action 
or being is expressed; the non-predicative verb assumes 
it. For this reason the non-predicative verb can not 
by itself make a predicate. Infinitives must be supple- 
mented by predicative verbs before a sentence can 
be formed; as. 

To go was to invite criticism. 

The participle must be given the help of an auxihary 
to make a predicative verb; as, 

The tree, broken by the storm, lay across the trail. 

The tree, which was broken by the storm, lay across the trail. 

As here shown, the participial phrase is essentially but 
an adjective clause with the relative pronoun and the 
auxiliary omitted. 

These non-predicative verbs are most helpful in 
sentence making. By means of them the sentence may 
be materially shortened, or subordinate ideas may be 



THE PARTS OF SPEECH IN USE 209 

slipped into it gracefully without loss of the life-giving 
qualities possessed by the predicative verb. It is 
these practical uses of infinitives and participles that the 
pupil should be led to feel and to apply. 

Verbal adjectives and verbal nouns also may be used 
to advantage. They are Hke verbs only in the fact that 
they suggest action. Otherwise they are essentially 
modifiers or substantives in function. Thus we may 
speak of '^running brooks and singing streams," or with 
Clement C. Moore say: 

"A wink of his eye and a twist of his head 
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread." 

Such active nouns and adjectives, suggesting move- 
ment, add touches of Hfe to the sentence. 

Another essential to be emphasized in dealing with 
the verb is the fundamental difference between transitive 
and intransitive verbs. Usually this is given as a matter 
of fact, not of feehng. To teach the transitive verb, as 
many teachers do, merely as a verb which requires an 
object to complete its meaning, is to mystify the pupil 
and to invite further trouble. Most pupils, so taught, 
think of the passive verb as being intransitive. 

The thing most necessary here is to make the learner 
feel that the transitiveness lies not in the object, but in 
the verb itself. 

Certain verbs express action which in its very nature 
concerns something other than the actor. Thus when 
one says, break, take, bring, tell, ask, lift, raise, the 
hearer naturally inquires, "Take what?" *' Break 
what? " and so on. The same would be true if one should 



2IO OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

say, is broken, was taken, will be brought. What is 
broken? What was taken? What will be brought? 
The transitiveness is as plainly evident in passive as 
in active verbs. The action expressed in both calls 
for something which receives or seems to receive the 
action. 

On the other hand, when one says, laugh, jump, 
smile, come, go, wait, sit, the hearer thinks of the 
action only in regard to himself. The action expressed 
by these verbs is intransitive; it does not "carry over,'* 
but is concerned only with the actor. 

The verb "to be'^ is intransitive in all of its forms, 
since it expresses no action at all. For example: He is 
a man of honor. Is here merely Hnks man to the subject 
he. 

From a practical viewpoint, this distinction between 
transitive and intransitive verbs is doubly valuable. 
1 . It enables the pupil to use rightly and with assurance 
the various forms of these six troublesome verbs: lie, 
lay, sit, set, rise, raise. 2. It promotes facility in 
predicate building — a less tangible but even more valu- 
able application of the knowledge. 

On the vigor of the verb depends the strength of the 
sentence. This is the vital point to be impressed on the 
pupil and worked out in practice. Growth in language 
is to be measured largely by increasing efifectiveness in 
the use of the verb elements. The early plays of Shakes- 
peare, scholars have pointed out, are marked by many 
adjectives; his later, more virile plays reveal the verb as 
the dominating element. The pupil, led to feel the force 
of the verb and trained to use it skillfully, will likewise 



THE PARTS OF SPEECH IN USE 211 

show a growth in strength and skill in the use of 
language. 

The adjective has a distinctive part to play as the 
picturing element in the sentence — the descriptive ad- 
jective. Used effectively it helps in making artistic the 
word pictures of life. Observe for example, the skillful 
use of adjectives in the following description. 

"On another night there was a sunset of wondrous color. The 
sun, a golden ball, slid into the lake, leaving a sky of peaceful 
blue in which rested long, golden bars. Then the gold caught 
fire, and the heavens were aflame with color and Hght. Above, 
on the beach, a horn blew out in joyous, exultant blasts. Grad- 
ually the rainbow colors faded and the flaming cloud streamers 
melted away. At last, there was a sky of clear mauve, and out 
of its warm light the great evening star shone radiant above the 
lake.*' — Florence A. Merriam in A Sunset on Great Salt Lake, 

With a delicacy of choice and artistic touch, the writer 
has here used her adjectives, blending them with the 
verbs and other elements to bring out the picture. 

In teaching the adjective the aim should be to train 
the pupil to use choice adjectives sparingly, yet skillfully. 
There is a common tendency among amateur writers 
and speakers in describing to effervesce in adjectives. 
"It was a grand, wonderful, magnificent, view" — is 
typical of their gaudy but ineffective sentences. The 
cure for such a fault is not teaching facts about adjec- 
tives, but cultivating appreciation for choice and fitting 
words. 

Another essential to be emphasized in teaching the 
adjective concerns the definitive, or limiting, adjective. 
The chief difficulty met in using this class of modifiers 
is found in choosing the right forms. This, that, these, 



212 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

those; each, every, a, an, and the, are among the princi- 
pal trouble-makers here. An accurate use of these and 
other Hmiting adjectives makes for sentence clearness. 

Adverbs may be used helpfully at times; but they 
should not be over-used. When the verb can be made 
to carry the effect of both adverb and verb, and do it 
better, the adverb may be omitted to advantage. 
There is a tendency today to vitalize speech by the 
use of such vigorous verbs. 

From the use viewpoint, another point in connection 
with the adverb calls for attention and drill. The "ly" 
forms should be chosen when the sense demands an 
adverb. A common tendency of this hurry age is to 
drop all such endings, especially in expressions like, 
"Run quick ; Work rapid ; Step quiet." * We Americans 
are inclined to be too abrupt in our speech. A little 
care in using adverbial forms correctly would help some- 
what in overcoming this fault. 

The conjunction is the chief connecting element. 
There are not many conjunctions, but their use is of 
fundamental importance. The logic of the sentence 
depends largely on the way its parts are tied together. 
By proper use of connectives, the reader or hearer is 
enabled to keep clearly in mind the varying turns in 
the trail of thought. Conjunctions may be called the 
guide-posts of language. 

Choice and place are the essentials to be kept in 
mind in teaching these connectives. The tendency to 
over-use and, the misuse of like for as or as if, without 
for unless, are some of the commonest errors. 

* Drive slow seems to have won its way into accepted usage. 



THE PARTS OF SPEECH IN USE 213 

Many persons say, I feel as though it is going to 
storm. The inaccuracy of this conjunction is revealed 
by expanding the sentence thus: I feel as I would feel 
though it is going to storm. This clearly is not the 
meaning intended. It is rather expressed by the con- 
jimction as if. 

The right choice of conjunctions is dependent mainly 
on clear thinking. The *'and habit/' as already sug- 
gested, may be permanently cured only as the pupil 
is led to sense the difference in thought values within 
the sentence. This done, he wiU cease using the co- 
ordinate conjunction and to join parts of the sentence 
of unequal rank. The pupil, trained likewise to recog- 
nize the real meaning and effect of but, or, since, for, 
ixnless, nor, as, and other common connectives, is more 
likely to use them accurately. 

Proper placing of correlatives is also directly depend- 
ent on clear thinking. The main use of these pairs of 
connectives, not only — ^but; both — and; neither — ^nor; 
either — or; when — then; and others less commonly used, 
is to keep the sentence properly balanced. For example : 
A man may serve his country well, not only on the field 
of battle, but in the fields of production. The pupil 
should be trained to weigh his sentence before he 
expresses it, and usually to place the members of the 
correlative before Hke parts of speech. For illustration: 
He was used both to poverty and to hard work, is clearer 
and better than. He was both used to poverty and 
hard work. 

The preposition is one of the most important parts 
of speech. Inaccuracy in the use of it often causes 



214 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

much trouble. In a recent survey made of the com- 
positions of pupils in ten different states, nearly one- 
sixth of the errors found were due to a mischoice of 
prepositions. 

Prepositions are not separate elements in sentence 
building. This part of speech is used always in a 
word group — the prepositional phrase, which, taken as 
a unit, is generally a modifier; as, We struggled up the 
rocky trail, the scout with his rifle leading the way. 
Sometimes, though not often, the prepositional phrase is 
used substantively; as, *^Over there" is an expression 
endeared to American hearts. 

Clearness and exactness of expression calls for accuracy 
of choice among these Httle relation words. The pupil 
should be trained to feel the varying changes in meaning 
the preposition throws over the sentence. A sHght 
change in these words may produce an important 
difference in the sense. 

For illustration: A teacher should laugh with, not at 
her pupils. The man may be accused of a theft by the 
poKceman. I agree with the mayor that the people 
should not agree to that proposition. She said she 
would part with everything she owned but she would 
never part from her mother. 

Observe, too, the nice distinction imphed in the prep- 
ositions which Lincoln uses in this famous sentence: 
"We here highly resolve . . . that government of the 
people, by the people, and for the people, shaU not 
perish from the earth." 

Ability to use these common little words effectively 
does not spring from copying prepositions and diagram- 



THE PARTS OF SPEECH IN USE 215 

ing phrases. It results rather from making the child 
sense the inner meaning of the preposition. This ac- 
complished, practice will assure the correct use. 

The independent element, grammatically speaking, 
plays no part in sentence building. Interjections, and 
other similar expressions, are not grammatically con- 
nected with the sentence. These elements do have a 
thought or emotional influence, however, over the sen- 
tence as a whole. Note, for example, the effect of the 
independent expressions used in each of the following 
sentences: 

Surely, you would not do that ! 

Indeed ! I thought you were his brother. 

Bah! He'd never consent to that plan. 

The interjection, to be most effectively used, must be 
used sparingly. This is about the only practical sug- 
gestion that needs to be impressed on the pupils. Oc- 
casionally, it may help in making the sentence more 
impressive, but artistic writers use it with care. They 
usually make their language vivid and forceful by an 
effective use of the other parts of speech. 

The essential thing to be kept in mind is this: All 
of the various parts of speech should be vitahzed by 
being taught from the use viewpoint. Pupils should 
be trained to think of these useful sentence elements 
in connection with daily life language. 

QUESTIONS 

1 . What is the main value to come from a study of the parts 
of speech? 

2. How may drills in the correct use of the parts of speech 
be made most useful to the pupils? 



2i6 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

3. Summarize in brief form the main points, or general rules 
of practical use, to be learned in regard to each of the following 
parts of speech: (a) Nouns, (b) Pronouns, (c) Adjectives, 
(d) Adverbs. 

4. Why is a clear knowledge of the verb of such vital value 
in language training? 

5. Illustrate clearly how accuracy in language is very often 
dependent on a nice use of prepositions and conjunctions. 

6. Why should interjections be used but sparingly? 

EXERCISES 

1. Have a round table discussion of this assertion: The 
verb is the life-giving element in the sentence. Be ready with 
illustrations to use in proof of points you may wish to make in 
the discussion. 

2. According to your observation, what rules governing the 
use of parts of speech are most frequently violated? Give in- 
stances to prove what you say, and join with your associates in a 
discussion of the point. 

3. Make a collection of ten of the most effective advertise- 
ments you know. Study each to determine what elements of 
speech give it such effectiveness. Or make a similar study of 
the vivid explanations on the moving picture film. What parts 
of speech are most used to help make the story move clearly and 
rapidly? 



REDUCING INFLECTIONS TO THEIR LOWEST 

TERMS 

English is a language of comparatively few and simple 
inflections. As ordinarily taught, however, it would 
seem to be as complex as Latin. The common tendency 
among teachers to drag the forms of the dead past 
down into the Hving present, is nowhere more strikingly 
shown than in their deaHng with this phase of grammar. 

Economy of time and effectiveness of effort both call 
for the facing of inflections from a practical viewpoint. 
What are the essentials here? What rules of syntax 
governing the choice of these various forms are still 
vital? An answer to these questions will help greatly 
in cancelKng the non-essentials and reducing inflections 
to their lowest terms. 

The following table shows at a glance the inflections 
of various parts of speech in English : 

Adverb comparison 

Adjective comparison number 

Noun gender number case 

Pronoun gender number case person 

Verb voice number tense person mood 

Five parts of speech are inflected — the first for one 
thing; the second for two; the third for three; the fourth 
for four; and the fifth for five. This nutshell presenta- 
tion of the subject makes a helpful introduction. It is 
easy to get and hard to forget. 

217 



2i8 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

A grouping of the various inflections as here given is 
also helpful. Observe that two parts of speech are in- 
flected for comparison; four for number; two for gender; 
two for case; two for person. Since the rules governing 
these inflections are essentially the same for any part of 
speech thus inflected, the difficulties may be reduced by 
considering any given inflection in its relation to the 
different parts of speech affected by it. 

In teaching these various inflections, the work may be 
simpHfied by deahng with the inflection itself rather than 
with each part of speech separately. A change in 
number, for example, may affect four different elements 
in the sentence: as, 

1. That hat costs more than it is worth. 

2. Those hats cost more than they are worth. 

The pupil, trained to feel the general influence of an 
inflection over the sentence, is more likely to speak cor- 
rectly than if he is taught inflections merely as a matter 
of facts and rules. 

A still further focusing of the study effort may be 
made by giving emphatic attention to the trouble spots. 
What are they? Briefly said, number, tense, and case. 
This triangle of trouble makers causes about three-fourths 
of the blunders in speech. 

So far as mode is concerned, few mistakes can be 
made. The only remnant of change affecting everyday 
speech is found in this t>^e sentence. I wish I were, 
or. If I were. People generally persist in using was 
wrongly here. 

Personal endings, except in the sacred forms of the verb, 
as in hast, wast, for example, have all but disappeared. 



REDUCING INFLECTIONS TO LOWEST TERMS 219 

In the verb to be we have am, art, is ; but there is 
ahnost no possibility of making an error in person when 
using these forms unless it would be in this sentence: 
It is I who am to blame. Some persons might choose 
is or are here. 

Gender is mainly a matter of learning to spell cor- 
rectly a few noun forms. Number also, and case as 
apphed to the noun, are chiefly spelling lessons. 

Voice has an important use, as already pointed out, in 
shifting the emphasis in the sentence from the actor to 
the receiver of the act. The chief practical difficulty met 
here is in the misuse of the past tense for the past participle 
in changing to the passive voice. Pupils are likely to say, 
The window was broke, rather than to use the proper 
form, was broken. The rule is simple enough; it can be 
expressed almost mathematically: Be plus the past 
participle equals the passive verb. Not the learning of 
this rule, however, but rather the tongue and ear drill to 
fix the passive forms is of prime importance. Let the 
pupil, through games and drills, be trained unfailingly 
to say was broken ; was laid ; has been taken ; has been 
eaten; to be written; to be chosen; being chosen; being 
broken, and like forms. Thus drilled, he will soon come 
to use the passive verb correctly. 

Comparison is not difficult to understand but its 
appHcation gives some trouble. In dealing with this 
inflection, two essentials should be mastered: L 
Choosing right forms for comparison. 2. Making the 
comparison clear. The forms ending in "er" and "est," 
and those preceded by "more" and "most" are most 
troublesome. Accuracy here depends more on euphony 



220 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

than on rules. The pupil, whose ear has been rightly 
trained, is likely to be shocked at hearing such expres- 
sions as '^beautifulest,'' *'awkwarder," and other 
similar blunders in sound. Ear-training deserves greater 
attention than it generally receives, not only in connec- 
tion with comparison, but with other phases of language. 
Our speech would sound better and be freer from errors 
if pupils were trained to listen to the music of words, 
and to make their sentences euphonious. 

Keeping comparisons clear is another difficult 
problem. The common fault in making comparisons 
is to say things not intended to be said. For illustra- 
tions: 

1. Washington was more famous than all of his generals. 
(Here Washington is compared with all of his generals taken 
together.) 

2. The girl is the best of her classmates. (In this sentence 
the girl is spoken of as if she were one of her own classmates.) 

To overcome such faults as these, the pupil must be 
trained to think the comparison clearly before expressing 
it. ** What do I wish to bring out?" "Does my com- 
parison say what I intended it to say?" are good guiding 
questions on this point. 

Number is one of the chief trouble makers among the 
inflections. The rule of agreement, which applies 
principally to this inflection, finds application in almost 
every sentence. The pupil, therefore, must be trained 
to be on the alert to prevent mistakes in number. The 
following are twelve type sentences that need careful 
watching; 

1. You were going. (You is always used with the plural verb.) 



REDUCING INFLECTIONS TO LOWEST TERMS 221 

2. He doesn't know it. (Watch contractions.) 

3. Each had his hat. (Each and every are singular.) 

4. The scissors were lost. (Plural form singular in meaning.) 

5. The audience was stirred. (Collective nouns.) 

6. "Helen's Babies" is a funny story. (Titles are always 
singular.) 

7. The music of birds was thrilling. (Subject followed by 
phrase.) 

8. Tom or Harry is to blame. (Compound subject con- 
nected by or.) 

9. Mary and Susan are sisters. (Compound subject con- 
nected by and.) 

10. There are three boats on the lake. (Sentences beginning 
with there.) 

11. The memoranda were lost. (Foreign plurals.) 

12. Twelve dollars was too much. (Subject giving amounts.) 

Probably ninety per cent of the errors made in num- 
ber occur in sentences of the types given here. Positive 
drill on usable sentences is the best cure for such errors. 

The other mistakes made in number are chiefly mis- 
takes in spelling singular and plural forms. Many 
children confuse the plural and the genitive (possessive) 
forms, using the apostrophe in making the plural; as, 
ladle's, horse's for ladies, horses. 

Thorough drill in spelling isolated words is one way of 
overcoming this fault, but it is not the best way. The 
pupil should be drilled on genitive forms used with 
their context. Dictation exercises similar to the fol- 
lowing should be used: 

John's hat is on the floor. 

We saw Mary's cat in the kitchen. 

Tom's sled is broken. 

Ned's bat was lost. 



222 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

The ladies* hats are stylish. 
The children's coats are warai. 
The soldiers' guns were taken. 

In drilling on singular and plural forms, much time 
has been wasted on words that are almost never needed. 
How often, for illustration, will the ordinary person have 
occasion to spell either the singular or plural of the 
following words: Trousseau, appendixes, indices, tab- 
leaux, colloquy, tyro, salvo, antithesis, ignes fatui, 
seraphim, billet-doux, innuendo, octavo, literati, woman- 
singer, talisman, Mussulman. 

For most persons, the struggle to learn to spell the 
singular and plural of these and a host of other similar 
forms, is a distressful memory. And that kind of edu- 
cational atrocity is still being perpetrated in many parts 
of our country by grammarians and unthinking teachers. 
A concerted effort should be made to eliminate all 
useless number forms and to simplify the spelling of 
needed words. Two practical suggestions are offered for 
consideration: 

1. Train the pupils to use the English instead of 
the foreign plurals where a choice is permitted; as, beaus, 
tableaus, vertebras, formulas? 

2. Why not follow the suggestion of the reformers 
and spell the plurals of all nouns ending in "o'' regularly; 
as, mottos, buffalos, solos? 

These and other necessary steps would help greatly 
in reducing the difficulties in number. 

Case is another inflection that has been made un- 
necessarily difficult. Reduced to its lowest terms, this in- 
flection presents only these few essentials to be mastered: 



REDUCING INFLECTIONS TO LOWEST TERMS 223 

1 . Spelling the genitive forms of plural and singular 
nouns. 

2. Learning the nominative and accusative forms and 
uses of the pronoun. 

3. Mastering type sentences that give trouble. 
The rules governing the formation of genitive plural 

and singular forms of the noun are simple. Their ap- 
lication depends mainly on training the pupil to thought- 
fulness in using these forms to avoid confounding them 
with forms indicating only singular and plural number. 
There are only seven pronoims that have both nomi- 
native and accusative forms as follows: 



I 


me 


he 


him 


she 


her 



we 


us 


they 


them 


who 


whom 


thou 


thee 



As to the uses, the following are the only ones wherein 
misuse of these case forms is likely to occur in daily 
speech: 

1. Subject; 2. Direct object; 3. Object of a preposi- 
tion; 4. Predicative nominative; 5. In apposition; 6. 
Subject of a gerund. 

The following five sentences are typical of those 
wherein nearly all of the mistakes in case are made: 

i. It is I, he, she, they. (Predicate nominative.) 

2. We girls are going. They spoke to us girls. (In appo- 
sition.) 

3. John and I did it. Between you and me. (Compoimd 
elements.) 

4. He is no better than I. (Elliptical sentence.) 

5. Whom did you see, call, tell, ask? (Direct object.) 

Three-fourths or more of the errors in case are made 



2 24 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

in sentences of these five kinds. Less frequently the 
following three type sentences give trouble: 

1. His being there made no difference. (Subject of gerund.) 

2. He is a boy who, I think, will do the work well. (Subject 
of verb will do.) 

3. They having arrived, the settlers felt safe. (Nominative 
absolute.) 

Case is governed by use. The office to be performed de- 
termines whether the nominative, accusative or genitive 
form shall be chosen. Pupils trained in making a quick 
mental analysis of sentence structure have little difficulty 
in justifying their choice of forms here. Added to this, 
however, they should be drilled in saying and in hearing 
correctly the sentences of the types just given in order 
that correct usage in case may become second nature 
to them. 

Tense is one of the chief trouble makers among the 
inflections. The choice of verb forms, the right use of 
auxiharies (can, may, will, shall, and others) ; the harmony 
of tenses — are all involved here. Much of the trouble, 
however, can be avoided by concentrating the effort on 
the places where error is most likely to occur. 

Investigation reveals the fact that about twenty-five 
per cent of the mistakes made in violation of the rules of 
grammar come because of a wrong choice between the 
past and the past participial forms of the verb. As in 
the following: I seen it; I done it; He has went home; 
It is broke. 

About fifty irregular verbs are the trouble makers 
here. Among these, see, do, go and come seem to be 
the chief offenders. The others grouped according to 



REDUCING INFLECTIONS TO LOWEST TERMS 225 

their similarity in forming their parts, which, by the 
way, is a most helpful way of dealing with them in drill 
work, are as follows: 

1. Begin, drink, ring, nin, shrink, sing, sink, spring, swim. 

2. Blow, draw, fly, grow, know, throw. 

3. Beat, bite, break, choose, drive, eat, fall, forget, give, 
hide, ride, rise, steal, take, weave, write. 

4. Bear, swear, tear, wear. 

Besides these there are a few other verb forms for 
which wrong forms are sometimes used; as, bring, 
burst, catch, cKmb, drag. 

The mastery of these forms is largely a matter of 
ear and tongue training through drill on the principal 
parts rightly used. Language games are of value here, 
especially with little folk. 

The mastery of the auxiliary verbs *' shall '^ and "will," 
"can" and "may," "ought," "should" and "would," 
is also mainly a matter of positive training. Pupils may 
learn the rules of syntax governing these forms over and 
over again. Unless their proper use is made a matter of 
habit, imtil the pupil is so trained as to feel uncom- 
fortable when the wrong forms are used, he cannot 
become a master of correct usage. 

All of the foregoing discussion revolves around the 
question, "What is the use?" To find the forms that 
are stiU active in our common speech, to discover the 
trouble makers among them, to teach the necessary 
rules governing correct usage, and to make these rules 
sure by application, is to reduce inflections to their 
lowest terms. 



226 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

QUESTIONS 

1. Show by illustration the difference between English and 
Latin, or some other highly inflected language. 

2. What inflections have almost disappeared from our every- 
day speech? 

3. What four inflections cause most difficulty in choosing 
correct forms? 

4. To what extent is the mastering of inflections merely 
learning how to spell? 

5. Give a practical suggestion that would be of positive help 
in reducing spelling or other difficulties without loss in efficiency. 

6. Suggest a practical drill on the correct case forms of 
pronouns; on the principal parts of the most troublesome 
irregular verbs. 

EXERCISES 

1. Have a round table discussion of this question: What 
are the trouble-making type sentences in comparison? In case? 
In number? In tense? In the use of "shall" and "will?" Suggest a 
good exercise for overcoming any one of these type faults. 

2. Create a language game that might be used in an elemen- 
tary grade for training the tongue to overcome some type mistake 
made in violation of some common rule governing the use of 
inflections. Join with your group in playing the games created 
by members of the class. 

3. Make a list of the advantages of using correct language as 
you gather them from merchants, doctors, lawyers, or newspaper 
men and women of your community. 



VII 
GAINING A COMMAND OF WORDS 

Ability to use the choice, the happy expression is an 
invaluable acquisition. It paves the way for success 
along every path of Ufe. 



227 



BUILDING THE LIVE VOCABULARY 

A live vocabulary is one that is electric in its response 
to the call of thought. It is not a mob of words, but an 
army. It may be commanded; it is made up of choice 
expressions that are both alive and alert to spring to the 
firing line of language whenever need demands. 

In language training nothing is more important than 
helping the learner to gain such a command of words. 
To be most effective in conversation, in social affairs, in 
business, or in pubUc address, one must have abihty to 
use with fluency the fitting expression. The vocabulary 
must be not only rich but ready, if one is to meet with 
grace and skill the varying daily Hfe needs for speech. 

The following conversation which took place recently 
between a teacher of EngKsh and a young man who 
represented a life insurance company, shows clearly the 
importance of a good vocabulary: 

*^Our manager," the young man began, "is anxious to 
see you." 

"He wishes to have me take out a larger policy, I 
presume." 

"No; he wants to talk to you about taking some Eng- 
lish work." 

"That interests me. What is his object? " 

"Well, frankly speaking, he has found that he needs a 
better command of words in order to increase his busi- 



ness." 



229 



230 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

*'You do not mean that his lack of words is making 
him lose money?" 

"Certainly. Don^t you realize that there is a dollar 
value in good language?" 

"I had not thought of it in just that way." 

" Well, there is. Suppose, for instance, a man gives me 
five, ten, fifteen minutes, or an hour of his time. If I 
fail to convince him of the worth of my proposition, if I 
do not succeed in landing the business, the other fellow 
who can talk more convincingly gets it, that's all. A 
command of the right words has a good deal to do with 
making a deal. Don't you believe it? " 

"Yes, I see your point. I'm wondering just how I 
might help your manager to gain such a command of 
words." 

"It won't come merely from books; I've tried that," 
responded the young representative. "A fellow wants a 
good working vocabulary. To get it, I suppose, he has 
to go after it. It means study and practice in using 
words that are alive." 

The young man was right. A live usable vocabulary 
can be acquired best through well directed practice in 
the use of choice, Uving language. One should keep 
training himself to find and to use with discrimination 
the words that make up the speech of to-day. By this 
means the desire for well-chosen words may be culti- 
vated and the habit of using them fixed. 

Command of an effective vocabulary cannot be gained 
from books alone. The habit of reading good books is 
indirectly very helpful, it is true; but the learner must 
go further. The reading vocabulary is likely to be 



BUILDING THE LIVE VOCABULARY 231 

''bookish;" and, though rich, is not usually ready. It 
will not leap to the tongue as fast as thought calls for it. 

Thousands of people can read with facility. When 
they try to speak, however, their language is halting. 
Not lack of words, but lack of ability to command words, 
is the main cause of their language embarrassment. 

Both the reading and the speaking vocabulary are 
needed. The two may well be developed together in all 
studies. Indeed, to gain a mastery of any subject the 
pupil must learn not only to read but to use in his dis- 
cussion the vocabulary through which that subject is 
best expressed. To study successfully any line of work, 
therefore, one must of necessity gain a reading and a 
speaking knowledge of the special words that belong to 
that subject. School work is largely a process of working 
with words. 

Vocabulary building for the general purposes of life 
is of particular concern to reading, spelling, and 
language. A special aim of reading is to enrich the 
reading vocabulary. Spelling deals directly with giving 
the learner a mastery of the written word. Language 
work should have as a central purpose also the helping 
of the pupil to acquire an effective speaking vocabulary. 

This training to give pupils a choice speaking vocabu- 
lary has been generally neglected. A great deal of at- 
tention has rightly been given to reading and to spelling; 
but the well-directed practice necessary to cultivating 
skill in the use of the spoken word has been largely 
crowded out of the curriculum, often by far less essential 
work. ' 

The language lesson constantly offers excellent oppor- 



232 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

tunities for working with the living word. Pupils, stim- 
ulated to express themselves on subjects close to their 
lives, will always have need for choice expressions. To 
direct them in their search for these is at once to stimu- 
late them to strive for the right words and to give them 
practice in using right words. 

The following lesson, sketched from schoolroom prac- 
tice, shows clearly how the language lesson lends itself to 
Hve vocabulary building. The teacher of a certain 
grade had led her pupils to tell of their coasting, when 
one boy, forgetting himself, said excitedly: 

"Oh, it was fun! We jumped on our sleds and just 
went ripping down the hill." The class laughed. A bit 
of playground slang had sHpped into the schoolroom. 

"That was a swift ride. Will, a very swift ride," said 
the teacher. "W^ho can make it just as swift and use a 
different expression? " 

The pupils leaped with interest to the problem. The 
sled whizzed, tore, raced, flew, shot down the hill. A 
dozen or more effective words to express the thought 
were found. The pupils chose the one they liked best. 
Then the teacher, to touch up the interest further, gave 
this quotation from Evangeline^ to show how Long- 
fellow had expressed a similar picture: 

"Oft on sledges in winter, swift as the swoop of an eagle, 
Down the hiUside bounding, they glided away o'er the 
meadow." 

But one little fellow dared to question even the poet's 
use of the word bounding, and would not be satisfied 
until another suggested, "May be they had bumps on 
the track." 



BUILDING THE LIVE VOCABULARY 233 

In this illustration is to be found the essence of the 
true message of vocabulary building. 

Young folks are naturally expressive. Every day 
brings them thoughts and feelings which they are 
constantly attempting to convey to others. What they 
need most is a Httle encouragement and tactful guidance 
in finding the right words. 

The hunt for the fitting word may become, as just 
illustrated, a lively language game. Pupils enjoy solving 
these language problems. Vocabulary building exercises 
may be made a most attractive part of the course. 

Among the general exercises through which this work 
may be practically presented, the following have proved 
most successful: 1. Blank-filKng; 2. Language prob- 
blems; 3. Finding the author's words; 4. Creative verse 
work. The two last named will be dealt with rather 
fully in succeeding chapters. Blank-filling and lan- 
guage problems will receive definite attention here. 
How they offer good daily lesson work is illustrated in 
the following reports of recitations: 

"This surely is a wintry day,'' said a fourth grade 
teacher as the children, after a romping recess in the 
biting wind, had begun to settle to their lessons again; 
"just look at that snow." 

The pupils turned to watch for a moment the wild 
whirl of the snowflakes outside. 

"What word tells best how the snow is coming down? " 
asked the teacher. 

"It's falling," exclaimed one of the irrepressibles. 

"Certainly, Tom, snow usually falls; but can't you 
find a word that brings a clearer picture than falling? " 



(( 
(( 



234 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

"Fluttering," suggested a girl. "Whirling," "sift- 
ing," "drifting," "driving," came other replies. 

Interest in the language problem began to grow. 

"Those expressions are more picturesque," continued 
the teacher. "Now try to find a word to describe the wind 
that is driving the snow." 

"It is a very cold wind," suggested one. 

"Yes, Hazel, but give us a word that makes us feel the 
coldness." 

Freezing," ventured the pupil. " Nipping," "sharp," 
keen," "cutting," "biting," were other suggestions. 

"Why are these words more effective than 'cold* to 
describe this wind?" 

"They make us shiver," said one pupil. 

"Indeed they do," responded the teacher; "I wonder 
now whether we can not make a word picture of this 
wintry day that would cause others to see and feel it as 
we do. Suppose you try. As I write this Httle sketch 
of the day on the board, will you find vivid words to fill 
the blanks? See that they suggest truly the spirit of 
this wintry morning." 

As the paper was being passed the following was 
written on the board quickly: 

Kind Winter rules the world to-day. The snow is 

down, spreading a blanket over the earth. The 

winds are round the houses and through the trees. 

Most of the birds have flown south; or else they are hiding in 

some place to keep away from Jack Frost. The 

squirrels and mice and rabbits have themselves in 

some nest to sleep. 

Only the snowbirds and the children seem to like King Winter. 
They do not mind so much his winds, and 



BUILDING THE LIVE VOCABULARY 235 

snowflakes. They give the children cheeks and bright 

eyes. Sometimes, of course, old Jack Frost their 

fingers and their toes; but what do they care? It is 

fun to in the snow, to : down the hills, to 

on the ice. 

The pupils thus stimulated and guided, attacked the 
exercise with zest, choosing and testing out various 
words to complete and vitalize the composition. This 
purposeful seat work done, various papers were read and 
put to the general test of class opinion. The natural 
result of the exercise was to increase the vocabularies of 
all who took part; but better than this was the interest 
stimulated in finding the effective word. 

Vocabulary building exercises, to bring the richest re- 
turns, must be both constructive and close to life. Add 
to these quahties, as was done in the lesson just sketched, 
the spirit of the language game, and the exercises be- 
come a challenge to the pupil's interest. 

Various kinds of positive lessons to enrich and inspirit 
the vocabulary may be rather easily created. The 
blank-filHng exercise can be readily adapted to blend 
with the expression work in all of the grades. Sentences 
and paragraphs on hundreds of varying topics may be 
given with the distinctive words omitted, and the pupils 
set to the work of finding the fitting expression. For 
example: 

The horse down the street. We heard the 

fire bell. The automobile the comer. 

It was a spring day. The birds in the 

trees, out their hearts in music. A 

breeze the blossoms, shaking down their 

petals and perfume everywhere. 



236 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

These blank-filling exercises should come, of course, as 
an outgrowth of the pupil's oral and written work. 
Their purpose is directly to minister to his need for 
choice, effective words. 

With younger children it will be necessary to govern 
the exercise with a guiding list of words from which 
they may make selections. This helps to overcome the 
spelling difficulty and to keep them from choosing sense- 
less expressions. In the high school, however, the pupil 
should be left largely to his own resources to find the 
right word. 

The language problem is illustrated in the question, 
"What word suggests how the snow is coming down?'* 
It is essentially different from the blank-filling exercises 
only in form. In one sense all the lessons in vocabu- 
lary work give language problems to solve. Variety, 
however, in the way of presenting the work adds spice 
to the exercise. 

The following questions are suggestive of a multitude 
of language problems that may be given in connection 
with composition lessons to stimulate a search for the 
apt word: 

What expression best suggests the song of the meadow 
lark? The music of the mountain stream? The call of 
the coyote? The voice of the thunder? The noise of a 
train? 

Another variation of the language problem is to be 
found in the exercise of changing words to produce dif- 
ferent effects. 

By using other words for those in black type, change 
the picture suggested by the following sentences: 



BUILDING THE LIVE VOCABULARY 237 

The man strolled down the street. (Trudged, hurried, limped, 
and other words will be chosen.) 

The dog had a savage bark. (Friendly, snappish, gruff, and 
other picturesque expressions may be used here.) 

A wild wind whistled through the naked trees. (A gentle 
wind sighed through the naked trees, or some other sentence will 
be made.) 

A wide variety of words may be called forth by such 
exercises as these. More important still is the training 
they give in word discrimination, without which ef- 
fectiveness of speech is impossible. 

QUESTIONS 

1. When may one be said to have a command of a choice 
* * live vocabulary ' ' ? 

2. Give two reasons why the building of such a vocabulary 
in themselves and in their pupils is of vital concern to every 
teacher. 

3. Why is the commendable practice of reading choice books 
in itself not sufl&cient to give one an effective working vocabulary? 

4. Show how every lesson rightly taught becomes indirectly 
an exercise in vocabulary building. 

5. Illustrate how the language lesson especially offers oppor- 
tunities to bring under better control the common speech used 
outside the school room. 

EXERCISES 

1. Have an exchange of personal experiences suggested by 
this topic: The best method I have found of enriching my 
speaking vocabulary. 

2. Have a round table discussion of these questions: (a) 
What special, direct help in vocabulary building can best be given 
the pupil in reading, spelling, and language? (b) In what 
general way may such other subjects as history, geography, 
mathematics, and science be of help? 

3. Make a list of special vocabulary building exercises which 



238 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

might be based on the out-of-school interests of the pupil, such 
as games and athletics, boy scout work, girl scout work, work at 
home, on the farm, or in the city. 



THE SLANG PROBLEM 

The slang problem is closely connected with vocabulary 
building. Slang itself is one of the main sources of 
language growth. Through the use of slang many useful 
expressions are constantly being coined to enrich our 
common tongue. The slang habit, however, will steal 
away the riches from the speech of any individual who 
becomes addicted to it. How to be fair with slang, 
therefore, while fighting the slang habit, is the main 
question to be faced in dealing with this subject. 

The extremist would solve this troublesome problem 
by forbidding the use of slang altogether. His protest, 
however, against this "coarse and vulgar speech'^ seems 
to have had much the same effect on waves of slang 
that have swept over our country, as had the command 
of King Canute when, as legend tells us, he planted his 
scepter in the sand and commanded the tide to stop. 

The schools, seeing the futihty of fighting the slang 
habit simply by prohibiting slang, have gone to another 
extreme. For the most part they are doing Httle or 
nothing about it. Teachers and texts generally evade 
the issue. Instead of exercising a firm guiding influence 
to keep pupils from becoming habituated in the use of 
slang, schools are too often fertile fields for the cultiva- 
tion of the habit. One of the chief marks of our Ameri- 
can students is coming to be a flippant and daring, not 
to say slovenly, use of language. 

239 



240 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

What can be done effectively to prevent or to over- 
come the fault? By what practical plan can teachers 
most successfully stimulate such a pride in language as 
will make pupils strive constantly to keep their speech 
clean? 

A better understanding of the whole slang question is 
the first essential. Slang has been abused and ignored, 
but not generally understood. Before any intelligent 
campaign can be carried on, looking towards the clearing 
of our speech of whatever evils come from the use of 
this more or less lawless language, a careful study of 
the problem must be made. 

Slang is not the unmitigated evil it has been pictured 
by the purist. So far as language in general is concerned, 
it is rather an asset than a liabihty. The words and 
idioms that give strength and individuahty to our 
speech have sprung largely from slang sources. 

"All language, '^ Lowell once said, "is * slanguage'." 
By this witticism he meant that every expression in 
any language must at some time or another have been 
outside the circle of select usage. All of the words and 
idioms that make up any vernacular must win their 
way first into popular favor, then into literary approval, 
before they attain a sure standing i^ any speech. 

Language is created out of the mouths of the common 
folk. Certainly most of the hard-working words and 
common counters of speech have sprung from this 
humble origin. Out of necessity they are created to 
meet real needs. If they give good service they persist 
in speech. Among the hundreds of expressions to be 
cited from our tongue in proof of the point are these: 



THE SLANG PROBLEM 241 

a good deal, handy, take care of, had better, well-to-do, 
dodge, foggy, baggage, hurry, rush, quick, dance, 
jump, sneeze, pmch, sting, shuffle. Observe that these 
expressions still smack of their slang origin. The list 
might easily be extended into the thousands. 

Slang is fairly conceived when it is thought of as 
language in the making. Every Hving language con- 
tains some of this more or less lawless speech. As any 
language grows it must take on new forms to meet new 
needs or to replace expressions that naturally fall into 
disuse. Most slang is short Hved, of course. Many 
expressions, however, pass successfully the service 
test and are accepted. It is a case of ''the survival of 
the fittest" here as elsewhere. 

This language coinage is constantly going on. Every 
day brings new forms into our speech to be tested and 
accepted, or rejected. Even now a host of such expres- 
sions, created during the World War, are seeking 
admission into the society of good usage. For illus- 
tration, over the top, carry on, slacker. There can be 
no doubt that these expressions have given valiant 
service; whether they will be permanent in our speech 
time alone can tell. It is certain, however, that these 
expressions with many others that have been created to 
meet the emergencies of the great struggle will always 
remain to remind us of it. 

New words are markers of progress. Every event in 
history worth chronicling is likely to bring new expres- 
sions with which it may be characterized. Every inven- 
tion carries with it new words. Thus with the auto- 
mobile came garage, chauffeur, carburetor, differential. 



242 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

self-starter, and a great many other terms. With 
the creation of the aeroplane, the telephone, the moving 
picture, the phonograph, and other inventions, were 
created new language forms man^r of which, like self- 
starter, airship, movie, talking machine, are slang. It 
would be difficult to do without such words neverthe- 
less, and some of them will be finally sanctioned even 
by the purist. 

There is no cause for alarm over the prevalence of 
slang in our American language. It is simply a sign 
that our speech is alive and growing rapidly. The 
faster the progress of a nation the more language cur- 
rency must be coined to meet the increasing need for 
exchange of thought and experiences. An increase of 
slang indicates, therefore, not retrogression, but pro- 
gression in the common speech. 

The fact that slang has its uses is no excuse, however, 
for any person to become a slave to slang. If he does 
so he simply debases his personal language. To sur- 
render to slang is to weaken and cheapen the individual 
vocabulary. 

Not slang, however, but the slang habit is the thing 
to be fought. The learner should be taken into our 
confidence on this point. A better understanding by 
the pupil of the uses and abuses of slang would help 
greatly in holding him from becoming a slang spend- 
thrift. He should be made to feel that though slang is 
helpful as a means of increasing our general stock of 
useful words, the slang habit is a robber. 

The danger of inviting these language tramps into our 
language is that they will drive out the legitimate words 



THE SLANG PROBLEM 243 



and turn the tongue to lawlessness. The old Arabian 
fable of the camel, which, desiring to warm its nose, was 
allowed to put it into the tent, and then gradually 
crowded the indulgent driver out into the cold, is plainly 
applicable here. Slang, given but half a chance, may 
displace its betters. 

Another point that should be made plain to the pupil 
is this: The slang-filled vocabulary, though showy 
and smart, is cheap and ineffective. It evidences a lazy 
lack of choice words. Those given to the over-use of 
slang generally have, after all, only a few expressions to 
cover a multitude of ideas. With them, for example, 
every unusual thing may be swell; as, "a swell party," 
"a swell automobile," "a swell dress," "a swell dish 
of ice cream," "a swell day." 

They change their expressions too with every change 
in word fashion. Swell may suddenly be dropped for 
classy; classy for nifty; nifty for spiffy. A dollar will 
one day be a cartwheel, at another time it will be 
a washer; then presto! it becomes a bone, a buck, 
a berry, or a bean. 

A study of slang shows that it usually follows along 
certain lines, giving new expressions for the same general 
ideas. Some of these varying creations are clear and 
clever; others are silly or slovenly. The pupil should be 
trained to discriminate between the coarse and slovenly 
and the clean and clever, even in slang. The learner 
should be led away from the slums of speech, and kept, 
as far as possible, in the realm of choice language. 

If this desirable result is to be achieved, however, the 
pupil must be given a vocabulary that is not only choice. 



244 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

but alive. Young folk will use vigorous, sparkling 
expressions. If these are not given them from approved 
sources, they are likely to leap to daring speech of shop 
and street as an outlet for their spirited thoughts and 
feelings. 

Teachers and texts have usually been unfair with the 
pupil on this point. Instead of helping to find choice, 
usable words, they have attempted to force on him a 
bookish vocabulary. The pupil does not often protest 
outwardly against the teacher's suggestions. An in- 
stance of this kind occurred recently in a sixth grade 
class. The pupils had been asked to write of some 
vacation experience. One girl chose as her subject "A 
Day in the Mountains." 

In telling of the experience she related in detail how 
the family had risen early, prepared their picnic, climbed 
into a buggy and driven up a long canyon to an inviting 
spot among the pines. Here they made camp. 

"We children spent the rest of the morning," she 
continued, "running after chipmunks and gathering 
flowers. Then we ate lunch and after that we climbed 
way up the steep hills. About sundown we started 
back to town. It took us until nearly midnight 
to reach home, and when we got there we were 
^ all in'." 

Glancing over the composition, the teacher asked, 
What about the last remark, Henrietta? " 

"I know it's slang," she said, with a twinkle in her eye. 

" Can't you find another expression to take its place?" 

She shook her head. 

"How would * tired out' do?" 



it 



THE SLANG PROBLEM 245 

** * Tired out' might be all right/' she returned de- 
fensively, ^'but we were 'all in^ '^ 

The right attitude in deahng with the problem was 
clearly suggested in the classroom incident given on 
page 234. When the pupil there let slip a bit of slang, 
the teacher tactfully turned the class to the finding of a 
better expression that would send the sled down the 
hill just as swiftly. A merry search for the choice, the 
fitting word, was the result. 

Not prohibition but substitution is always the most 
effective cure for the slang habit. Whether we have any 
right to forbid the use of a slang expression unless we 
can suggest another that is not only approved but just 
as alive to take its place, is an open question. Certain 
it is, however, that if such expressions can be given, the 
pupils will generally be eager enough to accept the sub- 
stitute and to work with the teacher for the enrichment 
of their own speech. 

A study of the language of effective writers offers excel- 
lent stimulus here. How do they vitalize their speech 
without resorting to slang? The answer may readily be 
found by observing carefully their choice of words. 

It will be discovered that they generally vitalize their 
language in either of two ways: 1. They put the splen- 
did idioms of our speech to effective use; 2. They turn 
old words to new and unusual service. 

Observe for example the following sentences chosen 
from successful writings: 

We had a burning desire from the beginning to see a pony 
rider, but somehow or other all that passed us managed to streak 
by in the night." — Mark Twain. 



246 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

"Outside his prison lay a stretch of blinding tlue water which 
ended in a line of breakers and a yellow coast with ragged palms." 
— Richard Harding Davis. 

The elephant tucked the brown baby comfortably between his 
forefeet that could have knocked into toothpicks all Chebin's 
hut, and waited for his food." — Rudyard Kipling, 

"All that afternoon he sat in the stall wrapped in the most 
perfect happiness, waving his long thin fingers in time to the 
music, while his gently smiling face and his languid dreamy eyes 
were as unlike those of Holmes, the sleuth-hound, Holmes, the 
keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was possible to 
conceive." — A, Conan Doyle, 

"jimmy collared a boy that was loafing on the steps of the bank 
as if he were one of the stockholders, and began to question him 
about the town, feeding him dimes at intervals." — O. Henry. 

"Suddenly Angelica became conscious that several thousand 
people were staring at her with looks of wonder and amusement. 
Caroline clutched her arm and dragged her away from the rail. 
The girl colored and shook herself free." — David Gray. 

Careful observation of the newspapers and magazines 
will reinforce respect for choice language. Much slang 
may be found in the pages of this current literature, 
it is true; but there is far less of it than is commonly 
thought. The news stories and magazine articles are on 
the whole not only remarkably free from lawless speech; 
but they are constantly bringing to us some of the finest 
examples of a virile use of pure language. • 

"The business of the news writer is to vivify facts," 
said a correspondent of the Associated Press recently. 
"He must interpret the swiftly moving events of the 
world in such a way as to attract and hold the attention 
of the many-minded public. In the doing of it he is 
likely to test language to the utmost." 



THE SLANG PROBLEM 247 



This stretch and strain of speech has its beneficial 
results. It gives language such an exerdse as promotes 
a healthy growth. Instead of berating our correspond- 
ents for breaking over the bounds of approved usage, 
as we commonly do, we had better give them more 
appreciation for the exceUent services they are giving 
in vitalizing and enriching our language. 

Pupils should be trained to read this Uving Hterature 
with discrimination. An occasional democratic recita- 
tion to which each contributes a brief clipping illustrative 
of exceUently written news stories, editorials, or other 
articles would be helpful in stimulating the young 
learner to watch for the best in his daily reading. Prac- 
tice in the writing of such articles would prove even 
more beneficial in stimulating proper pride and care in 
his own speech. 

The mere study of life-giving language either in 
classic or current hterature is not sufficient. The slang 
habit can hardly be overcome unless pupils are given 
weU directed training in choosing and using the fitting 
word to express their own thought and feeling. In- 
viting exercises that help them to gain a choice working 
vocabulary should be constantly given them. 

QUESTIONS 

1. What are the chief sources of slang? Account for its 
prevalent use in our common speech. 

2. Show how slang, though constantly enriching the common 
language, may yet rob one's tongue of its riches 

3 Discuss this assertion: " Substitution, not prohibition is 
the best cure for the slang habit." 

4. How can teachers be fair with slang while fighting the 
slang habit m themselves and in their pupils? 



248 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

5. In what ways can teachers do the best individual work 
and team work to create a proper pride in the use of choice lan- 
guage? 

EXERCISES 
Join with your associates, or lead your pupils, in making a 
survey of the slang used in the community by following these 
directions: 

1. Listen closely to the speech of the school room, the street, 
the home, and other places, making note of every slang expression 
heard and marking the number of times it is used. 

2. Tabulate the results, grouping expressions alike in meaning 
togetlier; as, beat it, skidoo, twenty-three. 

3. Have an open discussion of the results with two points m 
view: (a) What are the main trouble makers? (b) By what 
positive exercises can they best be overcome? 



WORD ACCURACY 

"A word fitly chosen is like apples of gold in pictures 
of silver," runs the proverb. Certain it is that the hap- 
pily selected expression is always in place. Skill to make 
a nice distinction in words, to use language that is clear 
and accurate, is an invaluable asset to every person. 

Efficiency calls for word accuracy especially in busi- 
ness, in legal practice, and in professional life generally. 
To use words carelessly in the conduct of the serious 
affairs of the world, may prove a costly fault. Many 
mistakes and misunderstandings are traceable to in- 
exactness in the choice of words. Embarrassing situa- 
tions in social circles are likewise often caused by un- 
happily chosen language. There is great need, there- 
fore, to train pupils to watch carefully their speech. 

Such training may well begin early. With little folk 
the work must not be formalized. Much tactful help 
may be given in leading even primary pupils to exercise 
care in their speech. In connection with reading, 
spelling, and language in particular, many opportunities 
will arise for the teacher to exercise a guiding influence 
on the pupil's choice of words. Every subject, indeed, 
will give some chance to help him here. 

In the upper grades this work for word accuracy may 
be more direct. If occasional periods were given to it, 
time would be saved. Success in the study of any sub- 
ject is largely dependent on ability to master the words 

249 



250 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

through which the subject is expressed. Sureness of 
expression is promoted greatly by such a mastery. 

There is an especial need to clear the common speech 
of inaccuracy in the choice of words. The practice of 
using "the right word in the wrong place" needs par- 
ticularly to be overcome. A careful study of the mean- 
ing of nice, grand, gorgeous, delicious, swell, awful, 
fierce, dandy, with many other like expressions com- 
monly misused, would prove helpful in preventing slang. 
Such a study should have a good effect to check the 
tendency towards word exaggeration and talking in 
superlatives. "Didn't we have a deKcious time?" 
"Wasn't her dress darling?" "Did you think so? I 
thought it was crazy." These sentences, caught in 
passing a group of high school students, are typical 
illustrations of the fault. 

There is no cause for alarm over this common ten- 
dency to use words extravagantly. It is simply ex- 
pressive of the enthusiastic spirit of youth. Something 
should be done, however, to keep the habit from fixing 
itself. A series of sensible exercises keeping the spirit 
ahve but turning the tendency to educative account 
would prove a valuable training in word accuracy. 

There is need also for a careful study of certain words 
that are likely to be wrongly used, one for the other. 
Following are a few of these trouble makers. 
accept — except learn — teach 

affect — effect leave — let 

allusion — illusion less — fewer 

already — all ready liable— likely 

altogether — all together lose — loose 

brothers — brethren practical — practicable 



WORD ACCURACY 251 

can — may principal — principle 

emigrate — ^immigrate respectfully — respectively 

healthy — healthful stationary — stationery 

hygienic — sanitary stature — statue 

The exact meaning of each of the foregoing words and 
of others that are likely to be interchanged should be 
learned and their right use fixed by practice. 

The "dictionary habif * should be cultivated as soon 
as the pupil is able to use the dictionary intelligently. 
Here again, caution should be exercised. Dictionary 
work is often made so repellent that pupils are trained 
to despise the sight of this useful tool of learning. The 
dictionary should be made not a hindrance, but a help 
to the pupil's word progress. It may be made to serve 
an excellent purpose if it is used to supplement the 
pupil's efforts in learning words. 

The learner should be trained to an independent study 
of words. Pupils should go to the dictionary only when 
unable to think out the meaning for themselves. The 
meaning of words may often be found without dictionary 
help. 

There are two main ways by which word definitions 
may be discovered: 1. From the context; 2. From the 
construction. Pupils, trained to study words from both 
these viewpoints, are schooled in word watchfulness. 
They become to a certain extent dictionary makers 
themselves, and are therefore better able to appreciate 
the dictionary when they must turn to it for help in 
sharpening their definitions. 

To give these points practical appHcation, the follow- 
ing illustrations are offered: 



252 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

A fifth grade was studying "Hiawatha." The class 
had come to these lines: 

"From the mountains, moors and fenlands, 
Where the heron, the shuh-shuh-gah, 
Feeds among the reeds and rushes." 

The pupils were puzzled. They did not know the 
meaning of moors, fenlands, and shuh-shuh-gah. It 
would have been comparatively easy to turn to the dic- 
tionary, and let it do the word thinking for them; but 
the teacher followed a different method. With a few 
questions he led the class to make a study of the con- 
text. Shuh-shuh-gah, it was quickly discovered, was 
simply the Indian name for heron. The heron lived in 
the fenlands. What kind of lands are they? Lands 
where the reeds and rushes grow. The meaning of 
moors likewise was partly determined as neither fen- 
lands nor mountains; but its exact meaning was not 
yielded by a study of the context. To give it a sharper 
definition, the pupils were permitted to look up the 
word in the dictionary. They went to the book eager to 
check up their own thinking. 

Another kind of word study which may b^ made 
most interesting is the learning of word meanings from 
their structure. This applies especially to our words of 
Latin origin, of which there are many in our language. 
To work out the definition of these generally longer 
words, to reduce them to their simplest terms, is a kind 
of language game that may be made most profitable in 
promoting word accuracy. 

To illustrate: Take the word context. How is it 
constructed? The stem or root text and the prefix con 



WORD ACCURACY 253 

make the word. What does text mean? In what other 
words is the stem found? A list of words containing it may 
readily be given — texture, textile, textbook- From these 
the essence of the meaning of the stem text may be dis- 
covered. The dictionary will supplement this study by 
giving the exact definition and derivation of the word 
from the old Latin word texere — ''to weave together." 

Following this the definition of con may easily be 
found. A large family of words in which this prefix is 
used — confederate, congenial, contained) considerate, 
conduct, contiguous, and many others may be named by 
the pupils. Con, as will be quickly discovered from a 
study of this group of words, means with. These two 
elements added give the definition. 

A study of etymology is an essential part of vocabulary 
building. It connects closely with reading, spelHng, 
and language; and it may be given, not formally, but 
informally rather early in the grades. 

Such a study of words has great value in various lines 
of work. It is of great help to the pupil in understanding 
scientific and mathematical terms ; it is a valuable asset 
also in geography, history, and other subjects. Espe- 
cially does it give great assistance in the study of lan- 
guages that Knk with our own. 

A practical study of the history of our mother tongue 
is much to be desired. It would bring not only word 
appreciation, but greater care in the choice of words. 
Pupils need to know how our language acquired its 
Saxon strength and its French finish. They should 
learn, too, more of Latin, the great mother tongue to 
which we are indebted for so many useful words. The 



254 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

contributions of other languages to our own speech 
should not be forgotten, for practically every tongue has 
contributed to its riches. 

There is more than mere word study in this great 
story of the making of our American speech. Within it 
is the romance of the struggle for freedom. And the 
romance is not yet finished. Even now, in this mighty 
melting pot of ours, the languages of all the world are 
being gradually brought together into one common 
speech, wHch may yet develop into a world tongue. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Explain and illustrate with instances from real life the 
meaning of this assertion: "Inaccuracy in the use of words is a 
common fault and sometimes a costly one." 

2. Give five words that you have observed to be most com- 
monly used inaccurately; as, nice. 

3. When and how can the "dictionary habit" be best devel- 
oped in pupils? In what way may the dictionary become a help 
rather than a hindrance to the word learner? 

4. What phase of Latin is of especial value in helping the 
pupil to be accurate in his choice of words? 

5. What helps to word accuracy are available to every 
one? 

6. Explain briefly and illustrate what is meant by the expres- 
sion, "Saxon strength and French finish," as applied to our 
language. 

EXERCISES 

1. Have a round table study of common stems, prefixes, 
suffixes — the meanings and right use of which every one should 
know. Let each member of the group bring five of each. See 
how large a word list can be worked out from this collection of 
vocabulary material. 

2. Let each member of the class choose some brief selection, 



WORD ACCURACY 255 

a paragraph or short poem, which illustrates a skillful choice of 
words. Be ready to read in class and point out the especially 
well chosen words. 

3. Copy from current addresses or news articles or advertise- 
ments ten expressions wherein striking words have been used 
with accuracy. What advantage is gained by an apt and accurate 
use of each? 



WORD APPRECIATION 

Word appreciation means all that is implied by word 
accuracy, and more. An artist in words chooses these 
subtle S3nnbols of thought and emotion with due regard 
both to their definition and to their suggestion. He 
makes sure that they convey both the right meaning 
and the right feeling. 

Words, as every one can attest, have the power to 
hurt or to heal. They may sting like a whip, or soothe 
like a mother's touch. They carry a certain spirit or 
atmosphere of their own through which a given emo- 
tional effect may be produced on the hearer or reader. 
In this lies their power to stimulate thought and feeling, 
to stir men to action. 

Within this individual spirit of the word is to be found 
its life-giving qualities. Not so much what the word 
actually says as the feeling it radiates, counts for the 
most. For example, take these two sentences: The man 
lived in a cottage. The man lived in a hovel. Hovel 
and cottage mean, in a general sense, house ; yet what a 
different picture each suggests! 

No two words are exactly synonymous. Each has a 
certain individuality which gives it character and 
vitality. The words zephyr, breeze, gale, blast, tem- 
pest, tornado, all have a common meaning in wind; 
but no two of them suggest the same kind of wind. 
Likewise, stroll, stride, march, limp, stagger, trudge, 

257 



2s8 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

all imply walk. The mental image brought by each of 
these expressions is markedly different from that brought 
by any of the others. 

Our language is so rich in words as to have an appro- 
priate expression for practically every shade of thought 
and feeling. To be able to call up quickly and to place 
deftly the fitting expression is to use words with artistic 
skill. It is a skill worth acquiring both from the cultural 
and the practical viewpoints. 

The author and the orator are keen at discerning the 
spiritual quality of words. In their best writings and 
speeches they reveal a word insight, a fine sense of selec- 
tion in language, which makes greatly for the superior 
quahty of their work. Observe, for instance, how aptly 
chosen are the distinctive words in these lines from 
famous poets: 

In his Elegy y Gray pictures the tired worker thus: 

The plowman homeward plods his weary way. 

In The Last Leaf, by Holmes, we are given this 
picture of the uncertain steps of age : 

Now he totters o'er the ground 
With his cane. 

In The C otter ^s Saturday Night, Burns brings thus 
vividly before us the beginning steps of children: 

The expectant wee-things toddlin* . . . run to meet their dad. 

Note also with what deft touch the following word 
pictures are sketched by more recent writers. 

*' Other things leave me, but it abides; other things change, but 
it remains the same. For me its balmy airs are always blowing, 
its summer seas flashing in the sun; the pulsing of its surf beat is 



WORD APPRECIATION 259 

in my ear. I can see its garlanded crags, its leaping cascades, its 
plumy palms drowsing by the shore, its remote summits floating 
like islands above the cloud rack. I can hear the plas^ of its 
brooks. In my nostrils still lives the breath of flowers that 
perished twenty years ago." — Mark Twain. 

*'ln a few moments he found himself in a large gray car accom- 
panied by four soldiers. The aviator left him. The country was 
barren and horrible, fuU of great pits and rents, and he could 
hear the roar of artillery and the shriek of shells. Overhead, 
aeroplanes were buzzing angrily. He seemed to be suddenly 
transported from the Kingdom of God to the pit of darkness." 
— Stacy Aumonier in A Source of Irritation. 

Skill to find the fitting word is to be expected in the 
author and the orator. Such ability, however, is not 
to be limited to literary work. An exact use of language 
is very important in other professions, in business, in 
social affairs, and even in conunon conversation. Cul- 
tivated and courteous speech is of practical value 
everywhere. 

There is a general need for the cultivation of a keener 
sense of word values. The common carelessness in 
speech, the crudities reflected in daily talk and in 
ordinary correspondence, add nothing to our general 
credit; and surely they are a handicap to any individual. 
A Httle attention to word art might help greatly in over- 
coming many prevalent language faults. 

Language and Hterature may well be blended here. 
An appreciative study of the words of effective speakers 
and writers has double value. It stimtilates literary 
appreciation and it enriches the learner's vocabulary 
with choice Hving expressions. Many inviting exercises, 
adaptable to both the elementary school and the high 



26o OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

school, may readily be made in connection with this 
work. 

Finding author's words is one typical lesson which 
has the appeal of a language game. This exercise in a 
variety of forms may be easily prepared by selecting a 
paragraph, or a number of separate sentences wherein 
some distinctively well-chosen words occur. Omit one 
or more words and let the class try to supply the right 
expression. 

For example, take the following line from Tennyson^s 
Sir Galahad : 

The streets were with snow. 

Covered, robed, deep, white, blanketed, and other words 
are likely to be suggested in the effort to find the author's 
poetic word dumb. 

Or take Barry Cornwall's effective Hne suggestive of 
the spirit of the lusty sailor: 

But give to me the breeze. 

A great variety of words may be chosen here: Wild, 
blustering, biting, fierce, and other expressions will 
probably be tried out by the pupils before the poet's 
word snoring is discovered. 

The value of the exercise, however, consists not so 
much in the finding of the word as in the hunting for it. 
In the effort to discover the author's word, appreciation 
for his work is stimulated and the vocabulary is en- 
riched by many choice usable expressions. 

Literature is full of lines and paragraphs that lend 
themselves to this interesting work. As further exam- 
ples take the following sentences. By omitting the 



WORD APPRECIATION 261 

words in black type from these, a merry search may be 
stimulated with rich results in word finding and testing. 

''Rip Van Winkle, however, was one of those happy mortals of 
foolish, well-oiled dispositions." — Irving. 

"We minded that the sharpest ear 

The buried brooklet coiild not hear, 

The music of whose liquid lip 

Had been to us companionship." — Whittier. 

"The husky, rusty rustle of the tassels of the com, 
And the raspin' of their tangled leaves 
As golden as the morn." — Riley. 

Exercises in word study may be varied occasionally to 
advantage. The pupils will enjoy at times finding sen- 
tences themselves in which some happily chosen ex- 
pression occurs. Each may be permitted to present his 
sentence to the class, omitting the distinctive word, and 
letting his classmates seek for it. At other times they 
may find a paragraph to read, and point out the words 
that are especially well chosen. 

But, as insisted in the previous chapter, the mere 
finding of words of other people is not enough. Artistic 
skill in the use of words comes only through persistent 
practice in selecting and using choice words to express 
one's own thought and feeling. A study of the language 
of literature is indirectly helpful and stimulating. But 
the pupil learns to do, not merely by stud)dng, but by 
studying and doing. 

Another point to be kept in mind is this: The apt, 
the expressive word responds most surely only to the 
call of sincere thought and feeling. While the mind of 
the speaker or writer is thinking clearly the idea to be 



262 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

expressed, while the picture to be portrayed is very 
vividly imaged in his mind, he is more likely to find 
the fitting word. The effective expression is most likely 
to leap to his tongue or pen, provided always it is in his 
vocabulary, when the mind is aglow with thought and 
feeHng. 

Vocabulary building, for this reason, is best done where 
it is carried on in connection with genuine self-expres- 
sion. To make of this work an artificial process, as 
many teachers do, by requiring pupils to learn a given 
number of new words every day, is largely to defeat the 
purposes of the work. Compelling pupils to memorize 
author's vocabularies is quite as bad. Pupils should be 
made to fee! that they are learning words not for the 
sake of learning words, but for the sake of serviceable 
self-expression. What every one needs is a good working 
vocabulary filled with expressions that are both choice 
and usable. 

Opportunities enough to connect vocabulary work 
with real h'fe expression are constantly occurring. By a 
little tactful turning of the language lesson into the 
right channels, as already suggested, language may be 
made a delightful study aiming towards the development 
of the desire and the skill to use words with discrimina- 
tion. 

A vocabulary gained thus under the impulse of a true 
motive will be alive and lasting. Word art by such a 
teaching process is applied to practical, everyday service. 
Through it also may be developed literary appreciation 
and Hterary talent. 



WORD APPRECIATION 263 

QUESTIONS 

1. Why may the successful author be aptly called a word 
artist? 

2. Show how every word has a shade or tint of meaning of its 
own. Give in illustration five or more words expressive of the 
general meaning carried by each of the following: boy, house, 
wind, walk, play, said. 

3. Give two ways in which the effective writer or speaker 
may make his language picturesque and vivid without resorting 
to slang. 

4. When is an author justified in coining a word? Name 
words so coined that have been generally accepted in good usage. 

EXERCISES 

1. What words in the following selection from Jack London 
are delightfully well chosen? 

"Tethering his horse in the edge of the wood, he continued a 
hundred yards on foot till he came to the stream. Twenty feet 
wide it was, without perceptible current, cool and inviting, and 
he was very thirsty. But he waited inside his screen of leafage, 
his eyes fixed on the screen on the opposite side. To make the 
wait endurable, he sat down, his carbine resting on his knees. 
The minutes passed and slowly his tenseness relaxed. At last 
he decided there was no danger; but just as he prepared to part 
the bushes and bend down to the water, a movement among the 
opposite bushes caught his eye. 

''it might be a bird. But he waited. Again there was an 
agitation of the bushes, and then, so suddenly that it almost 
startled a cry from him, the bushes parted and a face peered out. 
It was a face covered with several weeks' growth of ginger-colored 
beard. The eyes were blue and wide apart, with laughter wrinkles 
in the comers that showed despite the tired and anxious expres- 
sion of the whole face." — Jack London in War. 

2. Find in some standard book or magazine another short 
selection. Point out its choice words and tell why you think 
each word pointed out is aptly chosen. 



264 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

3. From the writings or addresses of business and professional 
men and women select five passages which indicate that these 
leaders appreciate aptly chosen words and well coined expressions. 



VIII 

CULTIVATING THE SPIRIT OF AUTHOR- 
SHIP 

To discover and to develop the latent literary ability of 
the learner — to turn this talent of the pupil to splendid 
service for himself and for the uplift of the community — 
is one of the finest results to come from the teaching of 
language. 



CRITICS OR CREATORS 

In the cultivation of the art of authorship lies one of 
the greatest opportunities for the language teacher. To 
discover the latent literary ability in pupils, to en- 
courage it to express itself in fine forms for the pleasure 
and uplift of themselves and others, is the special duty 
given to the teacher of language. It is more than a 
duty — it is a special privilege and a splendid oppor- 
tunity for practical service. 

Have our schools generally appreciated this privilege 
or risen to its opportunities? In some measure, yes; but 
not to the fullness thereof, nor with the enthusiasm that 
the importance of this service demands. Our schools too 
often have been and are still so bounded by formalism 
that Hterary genius has not found in them room to 
grow. Teachers, sometimes held down by requirements 
imposed on them by those above, or else imposing their 
own formalistic training from habit or choice upon their 
pupils, have not given encouraging opportunity for the 
development of Hterary and other talents within the 
schoolroom. 

The following incidents are illustrative of this failure. 
They are cited here with no thought whatever of dis- 
crediting the other excellent training that has come from 
our schools; but rather to emphasize the point that our 
language work fails in its highest opportimity when it does 
not discover and develop the rare talents of the learners. 

267 



268 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

When our troops were down on the Mexican Border 
there was among the leading representatives of the 
Associated Press a correspondent, who, when he was 
a student in one of our universities, failed to pass in 
English. He could not, or would not, take seriously to 
the formal work in that subject; but he was always 
finding time to scribble clever rhymes, sketches, and 
stories of all kinds for the school paper. Later, enhsting 
in the army, he participated in the Spanish-American 
War, and while doing service in the Philippines, he led 
in the establishment of the first American newspaper in 
those islands. After this experience he was employed by 
one of the most important American dailies, and grad-' 
ually rose to his present position of prominence in the 
journalistic world. 

Another instance came recently from an officer 
in our army, one of the most brilliant speakers and 
writers in the state he represents. A short time ago 
in response to a compliment paid to him at the close of 
a masterly address, he remarked, "Well, little credit is 
due to my college for whatever power I possess in that 
line. The English teachers there did their best to crush 
out every desire I ever had to express myself." 

Another instance, which drives home the point from 
another angle, is to be found in the story of one of Amer- 
ica's leading sculptors. When he was a boy in the 
grade schools, he was forever playing with mud, mould- 
ing from the common clay of his native town horses, 
Indians and other figures. Rebuked severely by his 
teacher one day because he carried some of these mud 
images into the schoolroom, he went home broken- 



CRITICS OR CREATORS 269 

hearted. His mother, comforting him, told him to go 
ahead and make all the horses and Indians that he de- 
sired. To-day that boy's statues of horses and Indians 
and other splendid works of sculpture are scattered from 
Boston to San Francisco. One of them is among the 
fourteen famous statues around the balcony in the dome 
of the Congressional Library at Washington. 

The incident is suggestive of the general attitude of 
many teachers in times past towards the creative spirit. 
Artists and authors have generally developed, not be- 
cause of encouragement from our formalized school 
systems, but in spite of it. 

In an article which appeared in the New York Times 
in August, 1916, Mr. W. W. Ellsworth, for thirty-seven 
years president of the Century Publishing Company, is 
quoted as sa3dng that our schools have tended to de- 
velop a critical rather than a creative spirit, and that 
most of our authors have been produced outside of college. 

In proof of the assertion he calls attention to the list 
of leading American writers, presented in a brief Chron- 
ology by an eminent literary critic. Fifty-nine of these 
literary celebrities are there named. Thirty-one of 
these were not college students. Many of the others 
who did attend college, it is pointed out, were there for 
only a brief time, or were graduated while very young. 
Among the non-collegians are the following: Frances 
Hodgson Burnett, Henry James, Mark Twain, Frank R. 
Stockton, H. C. Bunner, Joel Chandler Harris, John Bur- 
roughs, WiUiam Dean Howells, Mary E. Wilkins Free- 
man, James Whitcomb Riley, George Washington 
Cable, Bret Harte. 



270 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

Admitting, for the sake of fairness, that these instances 
are taken from the days gone by, that the promise of the 
present is far more encouraging, these questions are 
yet pertinent: Is our teaching even now developing 
critics or creators? How much effort is turned to con- 
structive, productive work? How much attention is 
given to developing the literary resources of our country 
by discovering the literary talent and encouraging it 
to express itself in literary service? 

Here is no thought to discredit the necessary formal 
and technical work. These phases of language training 
must be given; and they will of necessity be given in 
cultivating the spirit of authorship — given much better 
than without it — for the pupil working under the 
stimulus of the creative spirit wiU be keen to perfect 
his own language and keep it clear of error. 

The spirit of authorship is not limited to writers 
of literature. It expresses itself in every other kind 
of language service. It is shown whenever any person 
takes a proper pride in his speech and tries to use it 
•effectively. A well constructed, convincing business 
letter, a fetching advertisement, a vividly written news 
item, a chatty, life-like friendly letter, a charming bit 
of conversation, a well told incident, or a clear-cut ex- 
planation — all reveal the spirit of authorship just as 
do the story, the oration, the lyric, or the drama. 

Creative ability in speech or in writing is the finest 
result to come from the teaching of the mother tongue. 
Cultivating in the pupil the spirit of authorship — which 
not only carries with it the desire to use choice and 
effective language, but blossoms out constantly in 



CRITICS OR CREATORS 271 

artistic literary forms — is the crest to be kept con- 
stantly in view in composition work. 

The gardener cultivates the rose bush that the rose 
may finally burst into beauty. The orchardist works 
with the tree, cultivating and pruning and protecting 
it, in order that the peach or apple or orange may round 
out into its perfect form. If the teaching of language 
does not likewise blossom or come to its choicest fruitage 
in form of song and speech and story, it has failed to 
bring forth the richest returns. 

This is not to insist that every pupil must become a 
poet or an orator. But it is to insist that one of the 
chief purposes of the language lesson is to cultivate the 
creative spirit in all pupils. Not every child who is 
taught music in our public schools becomes a great 
musician, nor will every pupil who is given opportimity 
to sketch or paint become an artist. The training, how- 
ever, raises our appreciation of art and music in general; 
and through it the painters and musicians, who are 
to inspire us, may be discovered and developed. So 
too should the language lesson, offering the child an 
opportunity to express his thoughts and feehngs in 
beautiful form, discover and direct to practical and 
inspirational ends the latent Hterary powers of the 
pupils. 

This world of ours is starving to-day more for poetry 
than for potatoes. Those who think always in terms of 
things material are likely to forget that ''Man cannot 
live by bread alone." There is something greater in Hfe 
than the almighty dollar; and that something is an 
almighty ideal. Food is fundamental, of course; but 



272 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

life without those things that sustain and satisfy the 
soul of man is mere animal existence. The so-called 
dreamers of the race — the poets, the musicians, the 
artists, the teachers of true religion — are all ministering 
in a most practical way to the spiritual needs of man. 

The art of creating literature is indeed one of the most 
useful of all arts. Practical minded people are often 
so impractical as not to appreciate this point; but it 
is true nevertheless. Not only from the viewpoint of 
its spiritual values, but measured in terms of money, 
the Hterature of our country is one of its most valuable 
possessions. How much wealth has Irving, for example, 
brought to New York; or Longfellow to Boston; or 
Riley to Indiana? It seems almost a sacrilege to sug- 
gest such a computation of the worth of such men of 
genius; but perhaps the suggestion may stimulate 
greater attention to the development of our Hterary 
resources. 

A few years since, in the Panama Exposition at 
San Francisco, there was a unique exhibit. The Indiana 
building was filled, not with products from her farms, 
nor her mines, nor her manufactories; but with the 
works of her writers. Arranged in fine display was the 
wealth of poems, stories, and other Hterary gems that 
have been produced by Riley, Lew Wallace, Booth 
Tarkington, Gene Stratton Porter, George Ade, and 
other authors who have not only brought riches and 
fame to the ^'Hoosier" state, but who have radiated 
wit and wisdom and wholesome recreation everywhere. 
It was a striking and deserved recognition of the worth 

of such work to the commonwealth. 

) 



CRITICS OR CREATORS 273 

No state will ever become great so long as it measures 
itself by mere material standards. Its pride should 
be not alone in the products of its fields, its ranches, 
its mines and its mills, but also in the products of the 
mind and spirit of its people' The lasting things of 
life are to be foimd in art and Hterature. Herein Hes 
the glory of Greece, of Italy, of Spain, of the Hebrews, 
of England, and of our own America. 

It is the work of the author both to interpret and to 
preserve the ideals of his people. It is a most important 
duty of the schools to discover and to encourage the 
spirit of authorship. In so doing the school can best 
serve its own educative purposes and at the same time 
turn that inherent desire of the literary mind to practical 
and cultural account. 

Every locality has its literary raw materials. Every 
class possesses latent literary talents. If the effort now 
misdirected in our English classes towards memorizing 
dying dogmas of speech, were directed towards working 
up these materials into Hterary forms, the result would 
be a mighty stimulus to the creative powers of pupils, 
and the development of a wealth of poetry and prose 
to inspire and to enrich the lives of the people. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Why is the cultivation of skill in authorship essential to 
promote the progress of any community? 

2. Account for the general tendency in our schools to develop 
critical rather than creative ability in language. 

3. What two most valuable results would come to all pupils 
from giving constructive and creative language work its due 
attention in our schools? 



274 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

4. How does the spirit of authorship make easier the teaching 
of the formal side of language? 

5. To what extent should the creative spirit be stimulated in 
each pupil? 

EXERCISES 

1. Interview some successful writer or speaker you know as 
to his or her experiences in gaining skill in language. Be ready 
to report the findings and join your associates, who will interview 
others, in making a summary of the points that seem most helpful 
for guidance in language work in the schools. 

2. State the advantages and the limitations of each of the 
following as means of promoting the spirit of authorship: 

(a) Story Hour Clubs; (b) School Papers; (c) Holiday Pro- 
grams; (d) Literary Recitals; (e) Plays and Pageants. 

3. Show how the creative spirit finds practical expression in 
the daily life uses of language; as in advertising, in journalistic 
work, in correspondence, in moving pictures. 



CREATING STORIES 

The created story is one of our main sources of enter- 
tainment. In the form of fiction, the drama, and the 
moving picture especially, it is daily claiming the atten- 
tion of millions of people. There is perhaps no other 
art more influential in shaping the lives of men than 
the art of story-telling. It is of vital importance that 
this influence be guided for good. Therein lies a great 
educational opportunity. 

To train pupils in the art of creating stories, is to 
perform a doubly valuable service. It is at once to 
promote all of the purposes of language training, and 
to give an uplift to the recreation of the school and the 
community. More than this, it is a means of discovering 
and developing the latent hterary talent in the pupils. 

The story offers the best kind of all-round practice 
in cultivating language skill. Into its structure is woven 
every type of composition — narration, description, 
explanation, conversation, and even argumentation. 
To acquire skill in story-telling, is, therefore, to lay the 
foundation for effectiveness in all Knes of language 
expression. 

Story-telling offers an especially inviting kind of 
language work. Every one likes to hear a good story 
well told. Most people enjoy telling stories. Children, 
in particular, get great enjoyment both from hearing 
and from telling tales. For this reason story-telling 

275 



276 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

lends itself readily to the language lesson, so readily 
that it often is given too much of the time. 

Especially has the practice of reproducing stories 
been much abused. There is some value in this sort 
of work, but it may easily be overdone; and the 
truer training that makes for spontaneous, original 
self-expression may be neglected. 

The best training in the art of story-telling comes 
from creating original stories. To practice shaping 
close-to-life, near-by materials into story form with a 
view to reaching real people, is to cultivate skill to tell 
a story effectively. Such practice is more vital than 
that of the imitative sort. 

Our most successful story writers acquired their skill 
by no second-hand practice. Undoubtedly they were 
inspired by reading the masters and through the study 
of the work of others they were stimulated and helped 
in developing their art. But their efforts were aimed 
not at imitating but at creating stories of their own 
planning and weaving, using for this purpose the hteirary 
raw materials selected from real Hfe. 

As a boy, Scott was forever gathering the folk tales 
of the Scottish borderland. Irving was always wander- 
ing about the haunts where charming stories hide. 
Mark Twain wove into his Tom Sawyer, Huckle- 
berry Finn J and Pudd'n Head Wilson, the rich 
experiences of his earlier years along the Mississippi. 
Dickens created his David Copperfield, Nicholas 
Nickleby, Oliver Twist, and other tales out of the 
wealth of his literary gatherings from among the Enghsh 
folk. Hawthorne, Bret Harte, Kipling, Stevenson — all 



CREATING STORIES 277 



great story writers indeed — have produced their master- 
pieces out of the common story stuff they found about 
them. Into the warp set by their own planning they 
wove a woof selected from the story-making materials 
that are constantly being spun in the realms of human 
nature. If our schools would cultivate the art of 
creating stories, they must follow the methods of the 
masters. 

The art of story-telhng is based on skill to select right 
materials and to shape the story. In other words, 
to become an effective story-teller, one must learn first 
how to find the choice story; and second how to tell 
it weU, or rather help it tell itself. AU of this may 
sound simple enough; but it takes much rightly directed 
practice to develop such skill. 

There are three main sources of original story material. 
1. The common folk tales, carried usually in the mem- 
ories of the older people; 2. Everyday human interest 
happenings, such as are discovered and reported through 
the papers and magazines; 3. The learner's own per- 
sonal experiences. AU of these are within ready reach 
of the schoolroom. 

Many a charming tale may be found lingering in the 
lives of the aged. The grandfather and grandmother 
stories of the fireside, and the yarns of viUage story- 
tellers, or historic characters of the neighborhood, some- 
times are rich in story stuff of rare quaHties. Such 
material is close-to-Kfe and full of human interest 
touches. ' 

Stimulate such people to talk, and then listen to 
their tales. Most of what they may say will sound 



278 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

commonplace, but wait. Out of their reminiscences 
may suddenly spring incidents of thrilling interest. 
The one telling the tale perhaps will not recognize it 
as anything unusual — which but makes it the more 
natural and charming. 

h Gathering and giving these original stories make 
lessons of many-sided value. Through such work 
democratic language lessons of the best kind may easily 
be developed. Each pupil may be given a chance 
to contribute to the information and enjoyment of the 
class in an oral story hour. Through the written 
work which naturally follows, these stories can be put 
into form to be preserved. A collection of local history 
tales may thus be gathered. 

Teachers themselves will profit greatly by such lessons. 
For them to learn the stories that are dear to the people 
they serve, is to help them the better to serve that 
commmiity. An appreciative study of the local history 
by the teacher and pupils is one of the best means of 
promoting a good working relationship between the 
school and the home. 

Another source of excellent materials for story hours, 
school newspapers, and other language training exer- 
cises is the living present. The heroes do not all belong 
to the ''good old days." Many of them are to be found 
still living, as the terrible World War has amply dem- 
onstrated. In the throbbing activities of everyday Hfe, 
heroic scenes of the finest kind are constantly being 
enacted. Many hero stories are never brought to light; 
but frequently they are reported by appreciative news 
writers, who reveal them, in the daily press and in 



CREATING STORIES 279 

magazines. The schools would do well to join in this 
search for ''Hve stories," and use them for giving the 
pupils initial training in the practical art of news- 
story writing. 

The third source of original stories, closer to the 
leamer»s life, is his own experience. This affords 
excellent materials for every day expression. Through 
relating the most interesting happening in his own hfe 
the pupil may be given constant practice in speaking 
and in writing his own thoughts. There is a treble value 
in such exercises: They give the pupil vitaHzed train- 
ing in the use of speech. They enhance his appreciation 
of his own life experiences. They give him a chance to 
serve others by sharing with them the best that Hfe 
brings to him. For these reasons, this sort of work is be- 
ing used as the main basis for the best language lessons. 
Exercises that make for serviceable self-expression 
may be easily worked out in connection with all of the 
original story materials suggested. Through story 
hours, manuscript papers and magazines produced 
by the pupils, special programs prepared for other 
classes and for various occasions, this work may be 
given special motivation. 

Many of the stories may also find a welcome in the 
pubHc press. In one mining camp, for example, the 
local paper gladly gave several pages of space for each 
of several issues to pubUsh the local history stories 
gathered by the seventh grade pupils. 

The daily practice that must be given in the 
class cannot always have such special motivation. 
It must be stimulated by less ostentatious means; the 



28g our living language 

class itself for the most part, must be its own audience. 
It becomes a real audience with true inspiration, if this 
work is promoted in the true spirit of the democratic 
recitation. 

The essential thing to keep in mind is this: To 
develop skill in story-telling, the pupils must be given 
opportunity to select stories that have an appeal to 
the common heart, and to tell these tales for the upUft 
and enjoyment of others. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Why is the art of story-telling of great practical importance 
from both the educational and the recreational view points? 

2. Explain fully this statement: Practice in shaping close- 
to-life, near-by materials into story form with a view to reach 
present-day people, is the best way to develop ability in story 
telling. Be ready to give in proof the training experience of some 
successful story writer. 

3. What are three essential qualities of the choice tales of all 
ages? How may the choice old-time tales be used advantageously 
in cultivating the art of story-telling? 

4. What three-fold value is there in having pupils gather local 
history stories to use in language work? 

5. How best can the school exercise an influence to check 
wrong tendencies in story-telling and train the tastes of children 
aright? 

EXERCISES 

1. Have a story hour in your class. Let each member bring 
some choice tale — an original one, discovered among the common 
folk or experienced by the teller. Share these stories. Join in 
helping one another to tell them well. 

2. Have a round table discussion on, "The Best Stories of 
Current Interest.'* Let each sketch some choice story as played 
in the moving pictures, on the stage, or as told in recent fiction. 
What in the tale made it worth while to you? 



CREATING PLAYS 

Many folk think there is already too much play in 
the schoolroom. And so there is-purposeless play 
But educative play, play that really counts, is not over- 
done; nor are the educational possibilities of purposeful 
play generally appreciated. 

Dramatization is one of the best means of inspiriting 
and motivating school work. The dramatic instinct 
IS strong in human nature. To the young person 
especiaUy is it an impelling force. The child's world 
IS largely a world of make-believe activities. Children 
are constantly learning out of school in the spirit of 
play. Why should not their work within the school 
be mfused more with the same natural play spirit? 

Our schools are greatly lacking the true joy element 
Real joy comes out of work that is infused with the 
spirit of play. Too many classrooms are wanting in 
such a spirit. The work is done constantly with a 
feehng of compulsion. It may be well done; but it 
might be done just as well, and certainly more happily 
If the hearts of the workers were made happy in the 
doing of It. One may jolt along over a, difficult road 
in a wagon or automobile without springs; but it is 
far more pleasant if springs are provided. 

The joy element is a kind of shock-absorber in school- 
room work. If pupils fail to get joy out of their lessons 
they are more hkely to make up for the loss by annoy- 



282 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

ing the teacher, or by riotous fun outside. It would 
seem of vital importance that a spirit of enjoyment 
be brought into the work. One way of doing this is 
through creating plays occasionally to add zest to the 
work. 

To illustrate plainly how this suggestion may work 
out in connection with different studies, brief sketches 
of exercises that have been carried out in actual 
schoolroom practice are here given. 

A certain sixth grade class had been studying the 
geography of South America. When the pupils were 
dealing with the subject of food products, some one 
suggested that the class have a dinner entirely of foods 
that had come from South America. The suggestion 
was enthusiastically received and the plan was carried 
out. A few days later the principal and other guests 
were invited to this grade room. There was a tempting 
dinner spread. The waitresses were dressed in South 
American costumes. While the dinner was being served, 
the guests were entertained with South American songs 
and speeches suggesting the spirit of that land. The 
exercise proved to be a most delightful geography and 
language lesson, and at the same time it was rich in 
recreation. 

A fourth grade in another school blended language 
and geography and history in a delightful way by 
creating a little play or pageant called ^'America, the 
Land of all Nations." In this Uncle Sam and Aunt 
Columbia, as the children were pleased to call her, 
entertained the various little folk of other lands that 
make up our great American family. Each pupil. 



CREATING PLAYS 283 

dressed in inexpensive costume to represent some par- 
ticular country, introduced himself or herself by giving 
a bit of clever verse or prose suggestive of the spirit 
and customs of that land. Composite songs expressive 
of loyalty to the land of hberty were created by the 
pupils and sung by them with zest. The following 
is a refrain from one of these: 

"Dear old Uncle Sam, 

We will stand for you 

And for Aunt Columbia 

And the old red, white, and blue.'* 

Another school, near an Indian reservation, in gather- 
ing local history stories, found one of unusual dramatic 
interest. It was used as the basis of a historical play, 
worked out through a series of language lessons into 
finished form, and finally played before the whole 
community. The money taken for this performance 
was used for the purpose of a school library. This 
represents truly serviceable self-expression from the 
historical, recreational, and economic viewpoints. 

Three main elements are necessary in developing 
a successful play: 1. An interesting situation; 2. A 
variety of characters; 3. Action that holds the atten- 
tion. These essential characteristics were recently 
summed up in high-school style, by an eighth grade 
boy when he said, "I hke a play that has 'something 
doing,' and real people, and I don't want the hero to 
have things too easy." 

The same qualities that make a gripping story char- 
acterize the play. A play, indeed, is but an acted or 
vivified story. Herein lies the value in dramatizing 



284 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

stories as an aid in teaching literature. When pupils 
are given opportunity to act the story, it becomes a 
vivid reality to them. 

At one time a class was studying Rip Van Winkle. 
The pupils, somewhat baffled by Irving's wealth of 
words, were not warming to a proper interest in the 
story. It was suggested that they dramatize it. Im- 
mediately the work took on new life. When they 
began to visualize the tale in acts and scenes, it became 
a living thing. The word difficulties speedily disap- 
peared and the drama was worked out and played with 
enthusiasm. 

Creating plays is a delightful means to an end. Such 
exercises should be wisely used, of course; but they 
might be more often employed than they are as an 
impelling method in teaching different subjects. 

The following are some of the important returns 
to come from this pleasure-giving practice of dramatiza- 
tion: 

1. It adds the joy-element to learning. 

2. It promotes ease and poise in pupils. 

3. It offers excellent oral practice. 

4. It impresses a great many lessons. 

5. It cultivates the spirit of authorship. 

6. It helps the child to create his own recreation — 
and thereby makes a real contribution to his life. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Give two convincing reasons why the schools should exer- 
cise a more profound influence in guiding the dramatic instincts 
of children. 

2. Show the value, both from a recreational and from an 



CREATING PLAYS 285 

educational standpoint, of leading children to create and to act 
their stories. 

3. How can creative dramatic work be made to inspirit the 
teaching of geography, history, science, and literature? Illustrate 
by telling of a play you have seen successfully produced. 

4. How can the opportunity for creating plays be increased 
and at the same time the load of the teacher be lightened? 

5. Discuss fully each of the essential elements of a good play. 
What are the educational returns to come from well directed 
dramatization in school work? 

6. What are the necessary steps in creating a composite play? 

EXERCISES 

1. Make a collection of stories that are excellent for dramatiza- 
tion. Select one and tell how it might be played. 

2. Make a brief, suggestive outline for a play that might 
be created in connection with geography, history, literature, 
or some other subject. Adapt the plan to some grade you may 
be teaching. Be ready to report the results. 



THE POET'S ART 

"We'll sing Auld Coila's plains an' fells, 
Her moors red-brown wi' heather bells, 
Her banks an' braes, her dens an' dells." 

''We'll gar our streams an' burnies shine 
Up wi' the best." 

In these lines to a fellow poet, Burns suggests one 
of the many fine services the poet may perform 
for his country. His work is to create songs that open 
the eyes of people to the natural beauties about them, 
to help them hear the babbling brooks and the songs of 
the birds, to see the hills and vales in a new light, to 
interpret life about them. More than this, the true 
poet is the voice of humanity speaking the great com- 
mon heart, the soul of mankind, in ringing words that 
echo through the corridors of time. 

Such a service Burns himself performed when he wrote: 

"The rank is but the guinea's stamp, 
The man's the gold for a' that." 

Such a service was done for the world when Colonel 
John McRae recently out of the thickening gloom of 
the war clouds sent this lightning flash of inspiration: 

IN FLANDERS FIELDS 

"in Flanders Fields the poppies grow 
Between the crosses, row on row, 
That mark our place; and in the sky 
287 



288 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

The larks, still bravely singing, fly, 
Scarce heard amid the guns below. 
We are the dead. Short days ago 
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, 
Loved and were loved, and now we lie 
In Flanders Fields. 

"Take up our quarrel with the foe! 
To you, from failing hands, we throw 
The torch. Be yours to Hft it high! 
If ye break faith with us who die 
We shall not sleep, though poppies blow 
In Flanders Fields.'' 

It is impossible to measure the worth of such service. 
None can compute the length nor breadth nor depth 
of the influence of such poems. Think in this connec- 
tion of The Battle Hymn of the Republic, The 
Marseillaise^ The Star-Spangled Banner, and hundreds 
of others that have leaped like the clear notes of a bugle 
call to stir the soul of ennobling action. 

Could the recent World War have been won by the 
forces of freedom without such help? Can you con- 
ceive what this world would be without the songs and 
the other inspiring poems that have been created to 
cheer and strengthen humanity along the struggling 
way? Is it not a really practical service the poet 
performs? Is he appreciated by so-called practical 
minded people? Have our schools always taken the 
right attitude towards his work? Have they risen to 
their privilege of cultivating the art of poetry? 

"But poets are born, not made," objects some one. 
It is certain that poets will not be made by the ordinary 
process of language teaching. So long as teachers and 



THE POET'S ART 289 

texts make language lessons merely reproductive, 
imitative, and informational, instead of giving the pupil 
ample opportunity to express his own life through con- 
structive and creative work, so long may we expect 
no poets to be developed nor even discovered in our 
schools. 

Nor will the highest results come from the language 
work until the spirit of poetry is discovered and devel- 
oped. That spirit is in the heart of every pupil. Not 
all have the gift to express it with artistic skill in their 
own words; but the response that may be stirred in 
every soul by true poetry proves the presence of the 
poetic spirit in every soul. 

It is the teacher's privilege to cultivate that spirit 
in the pupils. No better way offers than to assure 
them their divine right to express themselves in the 
form of musically beautiful words. To lead them in 
creating a rhythmic expression of their true thoughts 
and feelings is to give language lessons of the most 
deHghtful and valuable kind. 

But how can pupils be stimulated to write verse? 
By what methods may they best be led to create rhymes 
or poems spontaneously expressive of their own thoughts 
and feelings? "I have never written a line of poetry 
in my Hfe. How can I lead others to do it?" the 
teacher asks conscientiously. 

The essential thing first is for the teacher to cultivate 
more faith in herself and in her children. This may 
easily be done if the pupils are given an inviting oppor- 
tunity to participate in the delightful exercise of verse 
making. 



290 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

Creative Verse Work. A subject close to child 
life, a few suggestive questions, and a little sympathetic 
guidance of the pupiFs efforts, are the main things 
necessary to lead children to create rhymes, jingles, 
or even verse with the true poetic touch. 

A sketch of a real lesson, given recently in a certain 
fourth grade, will serve to illuminate these facts and 
point a way to get results. 

Birds of Springtime was the subject chosen. After 
a few minutes of interesting discussion in which the 
children told various things they had observed about 
the springtime birds, the teacher asked: 

"Of all the birds that bring the spring, which do you 
like best?" 

"The bluebird," "the meadow lark," "the robin," 
came the various replies. 

"Why do you like the bluebird best, Jane?" 

"Because it has the prettiest dress." 

"Yes, its dress is certainly dainty. Why do you 
prefer the meadow lark, Tom?" 

"Because it can sing the best." 

"We all like to hear the meadow lark's song, I am 
sure. Why is the robin your favorite, Hazel?" 

"Oh, he is such a cheery bird." 

"Very true. You are not the only one who likes the 
merry robin. I know a lady who loved him so much 
that she wrote a poem about him. 

"You would hke to hear it? Well, you may, but 
not just now; I have something else for you to enjoy 
to-day. Why not make a poem of our own about the 
birds we like best? 



.THE POET'S ART 291 

^'You don't know how? You can surely learn. 
Suppose we all try together a rhyme about the robin. 
What sort of a bird is our little red-breasted friend?'' 

**Cheery," "sunny," "gayly dressed," "jolly." 

"Very well, suggest a line that describes him." 

"The robin is a cheery bird." 

"That goes fairly well, but can we not find another 
word than *bird?' *Chap,' says Tom; let us try it: 
*The robin is a cheery chap.' That sounds rather 
robin-like, doesn't it? Now tell something else about 
this *cheery chap.' " 

"He has a nice red dress." 

"Yes; but *chaps' don't wear dresses, do they? *Vest/ 
you say? That goes better. ' ' 

"Now find another word instead of *nice.' " 

"Gay." 

"Very well, *He wears a gay red vest.' What else 
might we say of this fine fellow?" 

"He eats ripe cherries." 

"Indeed he does. They make what for him?" 

"A juicy feast." 

"Certainly. W^hy not change our line to say that? 
*He feasts on juicy cherries.' " 

"That almost makes our robin rhyme; but we need 

another line. What shall it be? 

'The robin is a cheery chap, 
He wears a gay red vest. 
He feasts on juicy cherries, — ' 

"What more can we say?" 

"And he makes a nice warm nest." 

"That is a jingle, to be sure. We might make a 



292 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

better one; but each of you would rather try to make 
one of his own. What bird will you choose?" 

The sparrow, the jolly old crow, the eagle, the 
meadow lark, the humming bird. These and other 
birds were named. Paper was passed and the children 
began to work joyfully, while the teacher, moving about 
among them, gave helpful suggestions here and there 
as needed. It was not many minutes until several had 
stanzas ready to read. 

Most of the returns were commonplace jingles, but 
from the efforts came a number of clever rhymes, and 
two or three of the pupils produced some rather artistic 
verse. 

The creating of composite verse, just illustrated, is 
only one of several ways to begin this work with children. 
Another good beginning is to give suggestive lines and 
have the children complete the stanza, as: 

Jack was a jolly old pumpkin 
With eyes 

From this rhythmic lead, one fourth grade boy made 
the following: 

"jack was a jolly old pumpkin, 
With eyes that held much light, 

He had a great big crooked mouth 
And a head that was empty quite." 

Still another good way to begin verse work is through 
the finding of words that rhyme, or through words 
expressive of the spirit of the subject at hand. For 
illustration, in stimulating the children to write poems 
about brooks, one sixth grade teacher created the 
atmosphere for the lesson by having the children give 



THE POET'S ART 293 

all the words they could find expressive of sounds and 
movements of water. Rhythmic Hnes were made 
using these words, and the pupils then created verses of 
their own. One of the most artistic results of this exer- 
cise was this little poem written by a sixth grade pupil: 

THE MOUNTAIN BROOK 

*'l float and I splash forever, 
I never get tired of play. 
I babble and leap o'er the pebbles. 
Throughout the sunny day. 

On my banks the violets hover, 
Just to catch one sparkHng drop 

Of my water, that shines like silver, 
As I flow and I never stop." 

A subject that touches vitally the interests of all the 
class should be chosen. Subjects will vary somewhat 
with different communities. Country children are 
likely to respond more readily with songs about the 
birds, the brooks, the flowers, and the fields. The city 
child may succeed best in producing poems that reflect 
the firemen at work, the parks, the busy street. Yet 
this is not necessarily so. In our land, city and country 
life are so closely blended that any subject of natural 
appeal has general interest. All normal children are 
ready to express themselves about their plays, the 
holidays, or about nature and the human activities 
either of city or of country. Fetching subjects for lessons 
in verse-making are everywhere to be found if the 
teacher will but open her eyes. 

For the most part verse work should not be given 
below the fourth grade, although third or even second 



294 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

grade children have been led to create simple little 
rhymes, mainly in form of composite verse. 

** Should the teacher first give the child any technical 
training in rhyme, meter or the other mechanics of 
poetry?'' is a question frequently asked. The children 
of the grades would be hindered rather than helped 
by such formal work. Most children have natural 
music enough in their souls to keep their rhythmic 
expression true. If they do not, the best way to 
cultivate their musical sense is, not by any mechanical 
method, but by giving them the opportunity to try to 
express their thoughts and feelings in musical lines. 

The effort should be always to keep this expression 
spontaneous, free, child-like. The following are de- 
lightful examples of such spontaneity: 

"l love my home, 
And I love my brother 
But best of all 
I appreciate my mother." 

— Fourth Grade Pupil. 

"Down by the schoolhouse is a brook, 
It ripples out of every nook; 
Here's the boys' swimming hole, 
There's a boy with a fishing pole. 
Down in the muddy bog, 
The girls are trying to catch a polliwog. 
When the teacher rings the bell, 
To the brook they say, 'Farewell'." 

— Harvey Nielly Fourth Grade. 

"Let the boy go romp and play, 
Along the creek, and fish all day, 
Let him wander far away. 



THE FOETUS ART 2gs 



You don't need him anyway. 
He'll learn more there by the pool 
Than Johnnie will inside the school." 

—Harold Murrell, Sixth Grade. 

"Will you come to my house 
On ^Witches Night' 
When over the hill 
The moon shines bright; 
There'll be ghosts and goblins on left and right 
Who'll scare you to d^ath if you don't take flight?" 
—Virginia Mulholland, Sixth Grade. 

Children should be led in verse-making, as in all 
other language exercises, to express themselves, not 
some one else. Encourage them to try their own wings. 
They may make queer poetic tumbles at times; but 
only by being given the chance to fly freely will they 
learn finaUy to fly effectively. OccasionaUy some 
young poet will soar to heights such as this little poem 
reaches: 

AN EVENING IN THE FOREST 

' 'It is evening in the forest, 
And the song birds all are still, 
Though you hear the plaintive calling 
Of the lonely whip-poor-will. 

The blue mist rises slowly 

From behind the towering trees, 
And through the evening quiet 

There comes a gentle breeze. 

The slender crescent moon, 
Gleaming through the pine-tops high, 

Sheds its faintly golden moonbeams 
Down a pathway from the sky. 



296 OUR LIVING LANGUAGE 

The golden stars are twinkling, 

Each leaflet close is furled, 
And the stream is softly murm'ring 

A good night to the world." 

— Dorothy Patty j Eighth Grade. 

These selections will suffice to suggest the possibilities 
of encouraging creative verse in the common schools 
and give teachers a little encouragement to try this 
most delightful of language exercises with their pupils. 
More than mere fun will come from such lessons. They 
are an excellent means for enriching the child's vocab- 
ulary, and they stimulate greatly the spirit of author- 
ship, so sadly wanting in most of our schools. 

QUESTIONS 

1. What is the double value to pupils of creative verse work? 

2. How would you answer those who say in objection to such 
work that the school must train for practical things, not to make 
poets? 

3. Make clear what is meant by "The Poet's Art." 

4. Suggest five general subjects most likely to call forth 
poetic expression from pupils. 

5. Suggest several good ways to start pupils to write verse 
and to guide them so that their expression will be kept spon- 
taneous and original. 

EXERCISES 

1. Test your own verse-making ability by creating a lyric 
to express some sentiment or thought you feel strongly. Share 
it with your associates in class, for mutual help and suggestion. 

2. Plan a lesson in creative verse-maldng and teach it in 
some class. Grade the poems according to this classification: 
best — ^medium — ^poorest. Your associates may do likewise. 
Join in a discussion of the results, deahng especially with these 



THE POET'S ART 297 

points: (a) How many pupils in the class revealed ''the poetic 
touch"? (b) What was the value of the exercise to all the class? 
3. Collect ten good present day poems from the newspapers 
and magazines. On what themes are the best ones written? 
Which ones do the pupils enjoy most? Why? 



American language, 7 
Americanizing our methods, 18 
Analysis, sentence, 189 
"And" habit, The, 116 
Adjective, The, 211 
Adverbs, 212 

Articulation, Careless, 124 
Authorship, Develop skill in, 49 
Authorship, Cultivating the 

Spirit of, 265 
Aumonier, Stacy, quoted, 259 

Blank fiUing, 233 

Blending oral and written work, 
89; practice in speaking 
promotes efficiency in writ- 
ing, 89; opening oral ex- 
ercise, 92; oral language the 
language of life, 91; how 
the oral and written may be 
blended, 92 

Burns, quoted, 287 

Butts, Mary F., quoted, 86 

Case, 222 

Classics, Use of, 4 

Conmion cause. The, 31 

Comparison, 219 

Composition, Getting right re- 
sults in, 63; connecting 
with life, 65; imitative, re- 
productive, 65; based on 
Uterature, 65; business of 
teacher in connection with, 
66 

Composition, Measuring results 



INDEX 

Numerals Refer to Pages 

in, 143; facing the issue, 
145; scales, 145; form or 
spirit, 153 

Compositions worth measuring, 
153 

Compositions, samples of chil- 
dren's, 168 

Conjunction, The, 212 

Correcting written work, 129; 
persistent practice neces- 
sary, 129; teacher's per- 
sonal attention, 131; one 
fault at a time, 133; illus- 
trative lessons, 134 

Corrective exercises, 92 

Corrective work in language, 99 

Correct usage, 44, 45 

Course of study, 53 

Course in language, Progressive, 
57 

Courtis, Dr., quoted, 146 

Creating plays, 281; dramatiza- 
tion, 281 

Creating stories, 275; source of 
entertainment, 275; creat- 
ing original stories, 276 

Criticism, The spirit and aims 
of constructive, 101; must 
concern itself with more 
than mistakes, 101; appre- 
ciation or criticism, 101; 
should always be construc- 
tive, 103; write correctly 
at first draft, 104 

Criticism, nagging, 114 



299 



300 



INDEX 



Critics or creators, 267; op- 
portunity for language 
teacher, 267; creative abil- 
ity in speech, 270; poetry, 
nature of, 271 

Culture, language, 6 

Davis, Richard Harding, quoted, 
246 

Debates, 94 

Democracy, Real meaning of, 
19 

Democratic methods, 18 

Democratic recitation, 24, 94; 
democratic recitation de- 
fined, 25; democratic recita- 
tion in use, 26; methods, 
extent of, 27 

Demonstration, A practical, 165 

Diagram discussed, 188 

Dictionary habit, 251 

Doyle, A. Gonan, quoted, 246 

Dramatic work, 94 

Dramatization, 281 

Dynamic language, 3 

Education, Meaning of, 20 
Enunciation, Essentials in, 44 
Errors, twenty type forms, 123; 

errors, common, 40 
Essential difference between 

stories, 109 
Etymology, study of, 253 
Expression, 34 

Flanders Fields In, 287 

Gender, 219 

Grammar, vitalizing, 183; 

Use of, 186 
Gray, David, quoted, 246 



Heart of The Theme, 1 
Henry, O,, quoted, 246 
Hillegas, Dr., quoted, 146 

Impression and expression, 34 
Inflections, reducing to lowest 

terms, 217 
Interjection, The, 215 
Irving, Washington, quoted, 261 

Keller, Helen, quoted, 14 
Kipling, Rudyard, quoted, 246 

Language, Chief instrument, 36 

Language, central study of cur- 
riculum, 54; common cur- 
rency of thought, 35 

Language culture, 6 

Language, General service of, 
13, 14; team work in teach- 
ing, 33 

Language problems, 233, 236 

Language study plan, The, 51; 
general outline, 51; sim- 
pHcity of, 53 

Language teaching, 8; study of, 
165; formal and informal 
methods, fruits of, 176 

Language training, direct and 
indirect, 39; right examples, 
40; clearing common er- 
rors, 40; accurate written 
work, 40 

Leading learner to express him- 
self, 81 ; personal experience, 
81; "Fetching Question," 
84; suggestive topic, 84; 
poems and stories, 84; lit- 
erature, 85; art, 86; pict- 
ures, 87 



INDEX 



301 



Lessons, illustrative, 134 

Letter writing, 95 

Life lines in language, 72; un- 
changeable, 73; what they 
are, 74; mi^t be organized, 
75 

Literature, living, 5 

Living example, The, 43 

Living Mterature, Use of, 5 

London, Jack, quoted, 263 

Markham, Edwin, quoted, 207 
McRae, Col. John, quoted, 288 
Mechanics of speech, 41 
Methods, formal and informal, 

176 
Mode, 218 

Notes, Use of, in speaking, 119 
Noun, The, 205 
Nouns, Capitalization of, 205 
Number, 220 

Oral practice, 127 

Oral and written work, Blend- 
ing, 89 

(see Blending Oral and Written 
Work) 

Parts of speech in use. The, 205, 
the noun, 205; the verb, 
206; the adjective, 211; 
the adverb, 212; the con- 
junction, 212; the preposi- 
tion, 213; the interjection, 
215 

Plays, 281 

Poet's art. The, 287; creative 
verse work, 290 



Poetry, Nature of, 271 
Preposition, The, 213 
Punctuation, 139 

"Question, Fetching," 84 

Riley, James Whitcomb, quoted, 
261 

Scale, A three-step, 168, a five- 
step, 171 

Scales, 145 

School Standards in Speech, 
39 

Sentence building, 44 

Sentence building. Cornerstones 
in, 193; five type faults, 
193 

Sentence analysis, 189 

Sentence sense, 196 

Sentence structure, 136 

Sentences, Unified, 197 

Service test. Applying the, 185 

Services of speech, 10; freedom 
of speech, 10; purpose of 
speech, 10 

Slang problem, The, 239; lan- 
guage in the making, 241; 
slang-filled vocabulary 
cheap and ineffective, 243; 
substitution, not prohibi- 
tion, the cure, 245 

Social contact, Method of, 24 

Speech, Cultivating skill in, 113; 
for service, 11 ; school stand- 
ards in, 39; what guidance 
necessary to secure, 113; 
nagging criticism, 114; the 
"and" habit, 116; lack of 



302 



INDEX 



organization, 118; creative 
ability in, 270 

Speech, practice in, 89; me- 
chanics of, 241 

Stories, 275, essential differ- 
ence between, 109 

Story hour, The, 93 

Substantive, The, 205 

Study plan, The language, 51; 
vital problem of, 55; de- 
sired results of, 56; primary 
school, 58; elementary 
school, 59; junior high 
school, 60; senior high 
school, 61 

Surveys, language, 123 

Target test, The, 159; vitality 
in composition tested, 161; 
clearness essential, 162; cor- 
rectness not shghted, 163 

Teachers, Speech of, 43; in- 
spiring example, 43 

Team work in teaching language, 
33 

Tense, 224 

Textbooks, 51 

Theme, The heart of the, 1 

Thought, common currency of, 
35 

Tongue-training, 121 

Topic, suggestive, 84 

Type faults, Five, 193 

Trabue, Dr., quoted, 146 

Training the tongue, 121; 
tongue-training, not head- 
teaching first essential, 121; 



correct usage, how achieved, 
122; language surveys, 123; 
careless articulation, 124; 
oral practice, 127 
Twain, Mark, quoted, 245, 258 

Unified sentences, 197; clear- 
ness, 199; correctness, 199; 
conciseness, 200 

Verb, The, 206 
Verse work, creative, 290 
Vocabulary, slang-filled, 243 
Voice, 219; study of, 46; tea- 
cher's voice, 44; proper 
breathing, 46; right re- 
sonance, 46; articulation 
and modulation, 46; monot- 
onous tones, 48 

Words, Gaining a command of, 
227 

Word accuracy, 249; dictionary 
habit, 251, etymology, 
study of, 253 

Word appreciation, 257; life- 
gi\Tng qualities of words, 
257; word values, 259; 
author's words, 260; ar- 
tistic skill in use of words, 
261 

Written exercises, 92 

Written work, 129 

Written work. Blending oral 
and, 89 

(see Blending Oral and Written 
Work) 

Writing, letter, 95 



